Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Depression and Anxiety on Imprinted Gene Expression in Placenta and Infant Neurodevelopment and Growth

BACKGROUND: Depression and/or anxiety during pregnancy have been associated with impaired fetal growth and neurodevelopmental. Because placental imprinted genes play a central role in fetal development and respond to environmental stressors, we hypothesized that imprinted gene expression would be affected by prenatal depression and anxiety. METHODS: Placental gene expression was compared between mothers with prenatal depression and/or anxiety/obsessive compulsive disorder/panic and control mothers without psychiatric history (n=458) in the Rhode Island Child Health Study. RESULTS: Twenty-nine genes were identified as being significantly differentially expressed between placentae from infants of mothers with both depression and anxiety (n=54), with depression (n=89), or who took perinatal psychiatric medications (n=29) and control mother/infant pairs, with most genes having decreased expression in the stressed group. Among placentae from infants of mothers with depression, we found no differences in expression by medication use, indicating that our results are related to the stressor rather than the treatments. We did not find any relationship between the stress-associated gene expression and neonatal neurodevelopment as measured using the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Network Neurobehavioral Scale. CONCLUSIONS: This variation in expression may be part of an adaptive mechanism by which the placenta buffers the infant from the effects of maternal stress.