ArticleNature neuroscience2018
The maternal vaginal microbiome partially mediates the effects of prenatal stress on offspring gut and hypothalamus.
Article in Nature neuroscience, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 110 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
110 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 186 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prenatal Maternal Stress and Infant Gut Microbiome in Human and Animal Studies: A Comprehensive Systematic Review.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Pooled it
- Maternal Prenatal Stress and the Offspring Gut Microbiome: A Cross-Species Systematic Review.Developmental psychobiology · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The cervicovaginal gut microbiota axis as a key determinant of systemic physiology.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Article
- Psychological and anthropometric outcomes in preschool children exposed to antenatal maternal obesity: modelling of early life risk factors.BMJ mental health · 2026Article
- Unveiling the enigma of anxiety disorders and depression: from pathogenesis to treatment.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- Intergenerational effects of the microbiota on neurodevelopment: mechanisms and therapeutic perspectives.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Review
- The Gut Microbiome in Early Ontogeny: Implications for Brain and Immune System Development.Journal of developmental biology · 2026Review
- Maternal Microbiome in Fetal Programming: A One Health Perspective on Translational Implications for Early-Life Health.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Unraveling sexually dimorphic offspring behaviors: maternal premating stress and the neuro-microbial-metabolic network.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Vaginal bacteria-derived extracellular vesicles diffuse through human cervicovaginal mucus to enable microbe-host signaling.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- Abnormal intestinal microbial colonization in prenatally stressed offspring is related to lung and intestinal cytokine expression.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Maternal factors contributing to variability in gut microbiota and gastrointestinal function in autism spectrum disorders.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- Ketamine enantiomers and the gut microbiota: mechanisms, clinical implications, and future directions.Molecular biology reports · 2025Review
- The microbiota extends the reproductive lifespan of mice by safeguarding the ovarian reserve.Cell host & microbe · 2025Article
- Discovering a new paradigm: Gut microbiota as a central modulator of sexual health.World journal of gastrointestinal pathophysiology · 2025Review
- Systemic Uremic Toxin Burden in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Stratified Urinary Metabolite Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Prenatal psychological stress mediates vertical transmission of gut microbiome to the next generation affecting offspring depressive-like behaviors and neurotransmitter.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Murine maternal microbiome modifies adverse effects of protein undernutrition on offspring neurobehaviour.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
50 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Early prenatal stress disrupts maternal-to-offspring microbiota transmission and has lasting effects on metabolism, physiology, cognition, and behavior in male mice. Here we show that transplantation of maternal vaginal microbiota from stressed dams into naive pups delivered by cesarean section had effects that partly resembled those seen in prenatally stressed males. However, transplantation of control maternal vaginal microbiota into prenatally stressed pups delivered by cesarean section did not rescue the prenatal-stress phenotype. Prenatal stress was associated with alterations in the fetal intestinal transcriptome and niche, as well as with changes in the adult gut that were altered by additional stress exposure in adulthood. Further, maternal vaginal transfer also partially mediated the effects of prenatal stress on hypothalamic gene expression, as observed after chronic stress in adulthood. These findings suggest that the maternal vaginal microbiota contribute to the lasting effects of prenatal stress on gut and hypothalamus in male mice.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.