ArticleBiological psychiatry2021
Associations Between Maternal Lifetime Stress and Placental Mitochondrial DNA Mutations in an Urban Multiethnic Cohort.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of prenatal maternal stressful life events and newborn DNA methylation.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Brain mitochondria as key drivers of cognition and behaviour.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2026Review
- Maternal lifetime stress and placental mitochondrial DNA mutational load: Effect modification by maternal characteristics.Placenta · 2026Article
- Association of cord blood mitochondrial DNA heteroplasmy and copy number with childhood overweight or obesity.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Article
- Prenatal exposure to air pollution and BWGA Z-score: Modifying effects of placenta leukocyte telomere length and infant sex.Environmental research · 2024Article
- Cumulative maternal lifetime stress & child asthma: effect modification by BMI.Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2024Article
- Mitochondrial might: powering the peripartum for risk and resilience.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2023Review
- Prospective association between maternal allostatic load during pregnancy and child mitochondrial content and bioenergetic capacity.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- The lasting consequences of childhood sexual abuse on human capital and economic well-being.Health economics · 2022Article
- Placental miRNAs Targeting Cellular Stress Response Pathways Are Highly Expressed in Non-Hispanic Black People.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2022Article
- Prenatal particulate matter exposure and mitochondrial mutational load at the maternal-fetal interface: Effect modification by genetic ancestry.Mitochondrion · 2022Article
- Placental mitochondrial DNA mutational load and perinatal outcomes: Findings from a multi-ethnic pregnancy cohort.Mitochondrion · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDisrupted placental functioning due to stress can have lifelong implications. Cumulative stress and trauma are likely to have lasting impacts on maternal physiological functioning and offspring development, resulting in increased risk for later-life complex disorders for which racial disparities exist.
methodsThis study examined the association between maternal lifetime stress and placental mitochondrial DNA mutational load in an urban multiethnic cohort. Maternal lifetime exposure to stressful events was assessed using the validated Life Stressor Checklist-Revised. Whole mitochondrial DNA sequencing was performed and mutations were determined for 365 placenta samples with complete exposure and covariate data. Multivariable regression was used to model maternal lifetime stress in relation to placental mitochondrial DNA mutational load. Racial/ethnic differences were examined by cross-product terms and contrast statements. Gene-wise analyses were conducted.
resultsWe identified 13,189 heteroplasmies (Phred score > 10,000, minor allele frequency < 0.5, number of mutant reads > 1). Women experiencing increased psychosocial stress over their lifetime exhibited a higher number of total placental mitochondrial mutations (β = .23, 95% confidence interval = .03 to .42) and heteroplasmic mutations (β = .18, 95% confidence interval = .05 to .31) but not homoplasmic mutations (β = -.008, 95% confidence interval = -.03 to .01); the strongest associations were observed among Black women and genes coding for NADH dehydrogenase and cytochrome c oxidase subunits.
conclusionsCumulative maternal lifetime stress is associated with a greater mitochondrial mutational load, particularly among Black women. The impact of racial/ethnic differences in mutational load on placental function directly affecting offspring development and/or leading to chronic disease disparities warrants further investigation.
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