Prenatal stress leads to deficits in brain development, mood related behaviors and gut microbiota in offspring.

ABSTRACT: Early exposure to stressful and adverse life events at fetal and neonatal stages is one of crucial risk factors for mood disorders such as anxiety and depressive disorder in adulthood. Intergenerational effects of prenatal stress on offspring are still not fully understood. We here uncover a significant negative impact of prenatal stress on brain development in embryos and newborns, and on mood-related behaviors and gut microbiota in adult offspring. Prenatal stress leads to reduced numbers in neural progenitors and newborn neurons, and altered gene expression profiles in the mouse embryonic cerebral cortex. Adult mouse offspring exposed to prenatal stress displays altered gene expression in the cortex and elevated responses in anxiety- and depression-like behaviors. Interestingly, prenata

SUBMITTER: Zhang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8135039 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature