Impact of depression and stress on placental DNA methylation in ethnically diverse pregnant women.

Lay abstract Our research examined 301 women at six time points during their pregnancies in regard to depression or stress. We then examined samples of the placenta after birth for epigenetic changes and explored whether they were linked to the status of depression or stress observed during pregnancy. We found that 16 epigenetic changes were linked to depression and two were linked to stress. Some of the epigenetic changes in the placenta linked to depression were located close to genes which are known to have important roles in brain development and occurrence of psychiatric disorders. Therefore maternal depression may have implications for the long-term mental health of the child.