Stress during pregnancy may change placental signals linked to fetal brain development

Stress during pregnancy can alter the placenta's communication with the developing fetus, potentially impacting early brain development, according to research at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Approximately 20% of U.S. women experience maternal mental health issues, and chronic stress during pregnancy raises the risk of health problems for both mother and child.

Researchers discovered that stress changes several placental pathways, including antiviral immune signaling, cellular energy metabolism, and gene-regulatory processes linked to chromatin, RNA processing, and extracellular matrix organization. These changes may offer insights into how stress affects fetal development, particularly in areas related to immune signaling, growth regulation, and early brain development.

The placenta, previously considered passive, is now viewed as an active communication system between the mother and fetus. The study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, involved both mouse and human placentas, with researchers using single-cell RNA sequencing to analyze stress effects on individual cells within the placenta. Notably, prenatal stress and infection-like immune activation influenced shared fetal brain gene networks in opposite ways, suggesting that different maternal exposures may disrupt shared developmental pathways in distinct manners.

Future research aims to explore whether altering specific immune or energy pathways in the placenta can protect fetal brain development during stress or immune challenges, and whether the timing, intensity, or duration of stress influences biological signals.