Placental imprinted gene expression mediates the effects of maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy on fetal growth.

ABSTRACT: Imprinted genes uniquely drive and support fetoplacental growth by controlling the allocation of maternal resources to the fetus and affecting the newborn's growth. We previously showed that alterations of the placental imprinted gene expression are associated with suboptimal perinatal growth and respond to environmental stimuli including socio-economic determinants. At the same time, maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy (MPSP) has been shown to affect fetal growth. Here, we set out to test the hypothesis that placental imprinted gene expression mediates the effects of MPSP on fetal growth in a well-characterized birth cohort, the Stress in Pregnancy (SIP) Study. We observed that mothers experiencing high MPSP deliver infants with lower birthweight (P=0.047). Among the 109 imprint

SUBMITTER: Lambertini L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6786904 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature