ArticlePsychosomatic medicine
Prenatal Major Depressive Disorder, Placenta Glucocorticoid and Serotonergic Signaling, and Infant Cortisol Response.
Article in Psychosomatic medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research Review: Developmental origins of depression - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review of childhood maltreatment and DNA methylation: candidate gene and epigenome-wide approaches.Translational psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- DNA methylation studies of depression with onset in the peripartum: A critical systematic review.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial of Multisensory Early Oral Administration of Human Milk (M-MILK) for Very Preterm Infants: Enhancing Stress Regulation, Neurodevelopment, and Oral Feeding Skills.Biological research for nursing · 2026Article
- Early Life Stress and Adversity in Children: Neuroendocrine Mechanisms, Epigenetic Regulation, and Lifespan Developmental Outcomes-A Narrative Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The Effect of Maternal Stress on 11beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Activity During Pregnancy: Evidence for Potential Pregnancy Complications and Consequences on Fetal Development and Metabolism.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Pinpointing the timing of prenatal stress associated with infant biobehavioral reactivity.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- From trauma to depression: structural, synaptic, epigenetic, and molecular pathways linking early stress to lifelong vulnerability.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Intergenerational Effects of Stress - A Focus on Learning and Memory.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Prenatal Stress and Socioeconomic Status as Predictors of Placental Methylation in Pregnant People.Merrill-Palmer quarterly (Wayne State University. Press) · 2024Article
- Psyche: The 5th 'P' and its Associated Impact on the Second Stage of Labor.Rhode Island medical journal (2013) · 2024Article
- Increases in maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy and infant cortisol reactivity: Mediation by placental corticotropin-releasing hormone.Development and psychopathology · 2023Article
- Article
- Expression of Key Steroidogenic Enzymes in Human Placenta and Associated Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes.Maternal-fetal medicine (Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.) · 2023Article
- Placenta DNA methylation levels of the promoter region of the leptin receptor gene are associated with infant cortisol.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Maternal prenatal cortisol and the interaction of income and pre-pregnancy body mass index are independently associated with newborn cortisol.Developmental psychobiology · 2023Article
- Maternal Distress during Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: Underlying Mechanisms and Child's Developmental Outcomes-A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Perinatal and early childhood biomarkers of psychosocial stress and adverse experiences.Pediatric research · 2022Review
- The maternal-placental-fetal interface: Adaptations of the HPA axis and immune mediators following maternal stress and prenatal alcohol exposure.Experimental neurology · 2022Review
- Neuroendocrine and autonomic stress systems activity in young adults raised by mothers with mental health and substance abuse problems: A prospective cohort study.Developmental psychobiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesExtending prior studies of prenatal adversity and depressive symptoms, we tested associations between maternal prenatal major depressive disorder (MDD) and infant cortisol regulation. Based on prior findings by our group, we also tested placenta glucocorticoid (HSD11B2 methylation) and serotonin (SLC6A4 gene expression) signaling as moderators of links between prenatal MDD and infant cortisol.
methodsParticipants were 153 mother-infant pairs from a low-income, diverse sample (M [SD] age = 26 [6] years). Repeated structured diagnostic interviews were used to identify mothers with (a) prenatal MDD, (b) preconception-only MDD, and (c) controls. Placenta samples were assayed for HSD11B2 methylation and SLC6A4 gene expression. Infant salivary cortisol response to a neurobehavioral examination was assessed at 1 month.
resultsDaughters of prenatal MDD mothers had 51% higher baseline (ratio = 1.51; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01-2.27; p = .045) and 64% higher stress responsive cortisol (ratio = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.05-2.56; p = .03) than daughters of controls and 75% higher stress-responsive cortisol (ratio = 1.75; 95% CI = 1.04-2.94; p = .04) than daughters of preconception-only MDD mothers. HSD11B2 methylation moderated links between prenatal MDD and baseline cortisol (p = .02), with 1% methylation decreases associated with 9% increased baseline cortisol in infants of prenatal MDD mothers (ratio = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.01-1.16). SLC6A4 expression moderated links between prenatal MDD and cortisol response among boys alone (p = .007), with 10-fold increases in expression associated with threefold increases in stress-responsive cortisol (ratio = 2.87; 95% CI = 1.39-5.93) in sons of control mothers.
conclusionsResults highlight specificity of associations between prenatal versus preconception MDD and cortisol regulation and the importance and complexity of placenta glucocorticoid and serotonergic pathways underlying the intergenerational transmission of risk from maternal adversity.
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