Prenatal Programming of Neurodevelopment: Structural and Functional Changes

Maternal caregiving ameliorates the consequences of prenatal maternal psychological distress on child development

“…Animal studies demonstrate changes in offspring brain structure following prenatal stress exposure, such as reduced hippocampal volume and neurogenesis (Bogoch et al, 2007; Charil, Laplante, Vaillancourt, & King, 2010). Children exposed to prenatal maternal psychological distress show reduced gray matter volume and thickness in frontal, temporal, and limbic areas, as well as reduced total gray matter density (Adamson, Letourneau, & Lebel, 2018; Buss et al, 2010; Davis et al, 2019; Demers et al, 2021; Sandman, Buss, Head, & Davis, 2015). Cross-species studies provide mechanistic evidence that dendritic atrophy may be a pathway by which prenatal maternal distress disrupts offspring brain development (Curran, Sandman, Davis, Glynn, & Baram, 2017; Sandman et al, 2018).…”

“…Fetal life is an exceptionally rapid period of neurological development, and is a time when the fetus is highly susceptible to both beneficial and harmful environmental influences (Barker, 1998). Prenatal maternal psychological distress is linked to profound and lasting consequences for developmental trajectories and increases risk for subsequent mental health problems (Davis et al, 2007; Davis & Sandman, 2010, 2012; Demers, Aran, Glynn, & Davis, 2021; Glynn et al, 2018; Van den Bergh et al, 2017). The evidence that prenatal maternal stress and mental health has long-reaching implications for offspring psychopathology raises the need to investigate factors that can reduce or eliminate the consequences of prenatal adversity.…”

Intergenerational risk and resilience pathways from discrimination and acculturative stress to infant mental health

“…Although there has been substantial growth in evidence supporting DOHaD and links between maternal stress and child development, there has been relatively little focus in this area on sociocultural stressors that disproportionately impact communities of color (Conradt et al, 2020;D'Anna-Hernandez et al, 2015;Liu & Glynn, 2021). In fact, there is a dearth of research that examines preconception or prenatal influences of offspring behavioral development among diverse and/or low-income populations, despite the greater risk of exposure to stress within these communities (Bush et al, 2017;Conradt et al, 2020;Demers et al, 2021). Therefore, guided by both DOHaD and the Integrative Model, we examine two prevalent stressors among populations of color in the current studydiscrimination and acculturative stressas potential prenatal stressors related to offspring mental health.…”

The contribution of racism-related stress and adversity to disparities in birth outcomes: evidence and research recommendations

“…Specifically, studies have found links between prenatal stress (broadly conceptualized, including traumatic events, poor mental health, and economic hardship) and numerous physical and mental health disorders (57,(94)(95)(96). However, very little fetal programming research has been conducted with diverse populations (8,97,98), and few studies have examined stressors that disproportionately impact communities of color (8,99). Examining the impact of preconception and prenatal racism-related stress and adversity beyond birth outcomes to child development, may be an important pathway toward identifying intergenerational antecedents of racial/ethnic disparities in birth outcomes and physical and mental health.…”