Maternity stress

Yorty, J.L. and Bonneau, R.H., Impact of maternal stress on the transmammary transfer and protective capacity of herpes simplex virus-specific immunity, Amer. J. Physiol. Reg. Integrat. Comp. Physiol., 287, R1316, 2004. 

Yorty, J.L. and Bonneau, R. H., Prenatal transfer of low amounts of herpes simplex vims (HSV)-specific antibody protects newborn mice against HSV infection during acute maternal stress, Brain Behav. Immun., 18, 15, 2004. 

Beyer, P.E. and Chemoff, N. (1986). The induction of supernumerary ribs in rodents The role of maternal stress. Teratog. Carcinog. Mutag. 6 149-429. 

Jimbo M, Okubo K, Toma Y, Shimizu Y, Saito H, et al. 1998. Inhibitory effects of catecholamines and maternal stress on aromatase activity in the fetal rat brain. J Obstet Gynaecol... 

Substance-related adverse effects on reproduction are always of potential concern, but it is important, where possible, to distinguish between a specific effect on reproduction as a consequence of an intrinsic property of the substance and an adverse reproductive effect, which is a nonspecific consequence of general toxicity (e.g., reduced food or water intake, maternal stress). Hence, reproductive toxicity should be assessed alongside parental toxicity in the same study (EC 2003). 

Supernumerary rib is an expected morphological observation in developmental toxicity studies and one of the most common skeletal variants in rodents and rabbits with highly variable incidence between species and strain. The interpretation of supernumerary rib data can be complex because not only is this a spontaneously occurring variant in normal fetuses but it is also induced in rats and mice by various experimental conditions, including increased maternal stress (27) or high dosages of xenobiotics (14, 28, 29). 

Von Hertzen L (2002) Maternal stress and T-cell differentiation of the developing immune system Possible implications for the development of asthma and atopy. J Allergy Clin Immunol, 109 923-998. 

Pregnancy increases the incidence of dysrhythmias in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. This association may relate to an effect of estrogen, increased plasma volume, or increased maternal stress or anxiety. 

Normal reproduction and development require signaling within and between a variety of diverse organs, and, in sexual reproduction and mammalian pregnancy, critical communication even takes place between distinctly different organisms (i.e. male and female and mother and offspring, respectively) (Evans, 2007). It should be remembered that premature parturition or abortion can be induced by any circumstances which cause fetal or, potentially, maternal stress and initiate the cascade of endocrine and neural signaling events which would normally lead to parturition. Any sublethal intoxication or emotionally traumatic event in a pregnant woman or animal has the potential to threaten fetal survival. 

But despite the research limitations, a relationship between maternal stress during pregnancy and later adult schizophrenia in offspring has been established at least in outline.37 Considerable evidence shows that maternal stress during the first trimester of pregnancy may be a particularly important risk factor for later onset of this disorder in offspring.38... 

The major mechanism that may be operating to connect maternal stress during pregnancy to postnatal psychopathology involves effects of maternal stress hormones on development of the fetal brain, particularly of the fetal hypothalamus—pituitary—... 

Everywhere on the planet, for people of similar socioeconomic class, urban life is more stressful than rural life. A rich family in Tokyo is certainly less stressed than a poor family in a Japanese mountain village, but a poor family in Tokyo is usually more stressed than a comparable rural family. Urban life stress is correlated with an increased prevalence of psychiatric disorders and also correlated with maternal stress during pregnancy. Women do not experience pregnancy disconnected from their surroundings, and as we ll see later, the impacts of maternal stress on the developing fetus can be dramatic. 

Stress hormones can also be powerful modifiers of fetal development, which is how the psychological state of a pregnant mother can affect the physiological state of her fetus. Quantitative measurement of postnatal behavioral and IQ consequences are problematic, but there s enough evidence that makes biological sense to underscore the importance of maternal stress as a mediating variable between the maternal psychological and social environment and the development of the fetal body and brain. 

Posttraumatic stress disorder and other affective disorders may both act as maternal environmental challenges affecting the fetus and may themselves be more likely in offspring made vulnerable by maternal stress during fetal development.52... 

One important measure of the effects of maternal stress during pregnancy involves infant temperament. Maternal stress during pregnancy predicts cognitive performance deficits and fearfulness in infancy.55 Measures of temperament and behavioral reactivity in the first few years of postnatal life show the influence of prenatal stress and maternal-placental hormones.56... 

It s possible that fetal overexposure to stress hormones causes physiological programming that endures through childhood and adulthood. Animal experiments demonstrate that prenatal stress hormone excess reduces birth weight and causes lifelong postnatal hypertension, hyperglycemia, and behavioral abnormalities.57 In fact, the scientific literature cites many animal experiments on the effects of maternal stress on fetal development, but it s difficult to interpret what these results mean for human fetal development.58... 

The physiology and biochemistry of the human neuroendocrine system is complex, highly variable between individuals, and subject to impacts from the maternal environment. The evidence that the activity of the maternal HPA-axis influences the development of the fetal brain is clear and expected. The fetus does not develop in a bubble that isolates it from the mother the dynamics of maternal stress physiology, whether internally driven or driven by the outside world, must be a factor in the development of the fetal brain and nervous system. 

The paradigm for the transformation is plain low socioeconomic status (poverty) results in early age of pregnancy, poor prenatal care, and negative effects on fetal development (through exposure to maternal stress and distress, and to alcohol, tobacco, lead, and other environmental neurotoxins), which... 

Bergman, K., Sarkar, P., O Connor, T. G., Modi, N., Glover, V. (2007). Maternal stress during pregnancy predicts cognitive ability and fearfulness in infancy. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry. 46 1454—1463. 

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