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No long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes

Antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid (sGC) treatment is a potent modifier of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. In this context, epigenetic modifications are discussed as potential regulators explaining how prenatal exposure to GCs might translate into persistent changes of HPA axis “funct...

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Autores principales: Müller, Svenja, Moser, Dirk, Frach, Leonard, Wimberger, Pauline, Nitzsche, Katharina, Li, Shu-Chen, Kirschbaum, Clemens, Alexander, Nina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8850596/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35173143
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01828-x
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author Müller, Svenja
Moser, Dirk
Frach, Leonard
Wimberger, Pauline
Nitzsche, Katharina
Li, Shu-Chen
Kirschbaum, Clemens
Alexander, Nina
author_facet Müller, Svenja
Moser, Dirk
Frach, Leonard
Wimberger, Pauline
Nitzsche, Katharina
Li, Shu-Chen
Kirschbaum, Clemens
Alexander, Nina
author_sort Müller, Svenja
collection PubMed
description Antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid (sGC) treatment is a potent modifier of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. In this context, epigenetic modifications are discussed as potential regulators explaining how prenatal exposure to GCs might translate into persistent changes of HPA axis “functioning”. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether DNA methylation and gene expression profiles of stress-associated genes (NR3C1; FKBP5; SLC6A4) may mediate the persistent effects of sGC on cortisol stress reactivity that have been previously observed. In addition, hair cortisol concentrations (hairC) were investigated as a valid biomarker of long-term HPA axis activity. This cross-sectional study comprised 108 term-born children and adolescents, including individuals with antenatal GC treatment and controls. From whole blood, DNA methylation was analyzed by targeted deep bisulfite sequencing. Relative mRNA expression was determined by RT-qPCR experiments and qBase analysis. Acute stress reactivity was assessed by the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) measuring salivary cortisol by ELISA and hairC concentrations were determined from hair samples by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. First, no differences in DNA methylation and mRNA expression levels of the stress-associated genes between individuals treated with antenatal sGC compared to controls were found. Second, DNA methylation and mRNA expression levels were neither associated with cortisol stress reactivity nor with hairC. These findings do not corroborate the belief that DNA methylation and mRNA expression profiles of stress-associated genes (NR3C1; FKBP5; SLC6A4) play a key mediating role of the persistent effects of sGC on HPA axis functioning.
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spelling pubmed-88505962022-03-04 No long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes Müller, Svenja Moser, Dirk Frach, Leonard Wimberger, Pauline Nitzsche, Katharina Li, Shu-Chen Kirschbaum, Clemens Alexander, Nina Transl Psychiatry Article Antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid (sGC) treatment is a potent modifier of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. In this context, epigenetic modifications are discussed as potential regulators explaining how prenatal exposure to GCs might translate into persistent changes of HPA axis “functioning”. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether DNA methylation and gene expression profiles of stress-associated genes (NR3C1; FKBP5; SLC6A4) may mediate the persistent effects of sGC on cortisol stress reactivity that have been previously observed. In addition, hair cortisol concentrations (hairC) were investigated as a valid biomarker of long-term HPA axis activity. This cross-sectional study comprised 108 term-born children and adolescents, including individuals with antenatal GC treatment and controls. From whole blood, DNA methylation was analyzed by targeted deep bisulfite sequencing. Relative mRNA expression was determined by RT-qPCR experiments and qBase analysis. Acute stress reactivity was assessed by the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) measuring salivary cortisol by ELISA and hairC concentrations were determined from hair samples by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. First, no differences in DNA methylation and mRNA expression levels of the stress-associated genes between individuals treated with antenatal sGC compared to controls were found. Second, DNA methylation and mRNA expression levels were neither associated with cortisol stress reactivity nor with hairC. These findings do not corroborate the belief that DNA methylation and mRNA expression profiles of stress-associated genes (NR3C1; FKBP5; SLC6A4) play a key mediating role of the persistent effects of sGC on HPA axis functioning. Nature Publishing Group UK 2022-02-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8850596/ /pubmed/35173143 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01828-x Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Müller, Svenja
Moser, Dirk
Frach, Leonard
Wimberger, Pauline
Nitzsche, Katharina
Li, Shu-Chen
Kirschbaum, Clemens
Alexander, Nina
No long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes
title No long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes
title_full No long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes
title_fullStr No long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes
title_full_unstemmed No long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes
title_short No long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes
title_sort no long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8850596/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35173143
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01828-x
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