ArticleTranslational psychiatry2022
Maternal and infant NR3C1 and SLC6A4 epigenetic signatures of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: when timing matters.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- SLC6A4 Gene Methylation in Premature Infants Undergoing Kangaroo Mother Care: A Prospective Longitudinal Study.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Disrupted beginnings: Neurodevelopmental outcomes of COVID-19 lockdowns in early childhood (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Review
- DNA Methylation ofBiological research for nursing · 2026Article
- Association Between Biochemical, Inflammatory, Oxidative Stress and DNA Methylation Biomarkers with Perceived Stress in Mexican Individuals.Biomolecules · 2026Article
- New Trends and Challenges in Academic Research on Adolescent Growth and Development.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Prematurity and Epigenetic Regulation ofBiomedicines · 2025Article
- Youth mental health crisis: A translational view of the COVID-19 pandemic.Neurobiology of stress · 2025Review
- From Womb to Mind: Prenatal Epigenetic Influences on Mental Health Disorders.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Methylation of the Glucocorticoid Receptor Gene in Children with Somatic Symptom Disorder: A Case-Control Study.Epigenomes · 2025Article
- A DNA Methylation Signature From Buccal Swabs to Identify Tuberculosis Infection.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Needs, rights and perspectives in the Birth Care Pathway during COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: the BiSogni Study, an exploratory qualitative research.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Prenatal Stress and Maternal Role in Neurodevelopment.Annual review of developmental psychology · 2024Article
- Epigenetic Responses to Nonchemical Stressors: Potential Molecular Links to Perinatal Health Outcomes.Current environmental health reports · 2024Review
- Epigenetics of prenatal stress in humans: the current research landscape.Clinical epigenetics · 2024Review
- Prenatal exposure to environmental air pollution and psychosocial stress jointly contribute to the epigenetic regulation of the serotonin transporter gene in newborns.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- Genome-Environment Interactions and Psychiatric Disorders.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- The microRNA Cargo of Human Vaginal Extracellular Vesicles Differentiates Parasitic and Pathobiont Infections from Colonization by Homeostatic Bacteria.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Covid-19 Infection During Pregnancy and Differential DNA Methylation in Human Cord Blood Cells From Term Neonates.Epigenetics insights · 2023Article
- Observational
- How can early life adversity still exert an effect decades later? A question of timing, tissues and mechanisms.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 9 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Stress exposure during pregnancy is critically linked with maternal mental health and child development. The effects might involve altered patterns of DNA methylation in specific stress-related genes (i.e., glucocorticoid receptor gene, NR3C1, and serotonin transporter gene, SLC6A4) and might be moderated by the gestational timing of stress exposure. In this study, we report on NR3C1 and SLC6A4 methylation status in Italian mothers and infants who were exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown during different trimesters of pregnancy. From May 2020 to February 2021, 283 mother-infant dyads were enrolled at delivery. Within 24 h from delivery, buccal cells were collected to assess NR3C1 (44 CpG sites) and SLC6A4 (13 CpG sites) methylation status. Principal component (PC) analyses were used to reduce methylation data dimension to one PC per maternal and infant gene methylation. Mother-infant dyads were split into three groups based on the pregnancy trimester (first, second, third), during which they were exposed to the COVID-19 lockdown. Mothers and infants who were exposed to the lockdown during the first trimester of pregnancy had lower NR3C1 and SLC6A4 methylation when compared to counterparts exposed during the second or third trimesters. The effect remained significant after controlling for confounders. Women who were pregnant during the pandemic and their infants might present altered epigenetic biomarkers of stress-related genes. As these epigenetic marks have been previously linked with a heightened risk of maternal psychiatric problems and less-than-optimal child development, mothers and infants should be adequately monitored for psychological health during and after the pandemic.
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