Maternal early life and prenatal stress in relation to birth outcomes in Argentinian mothers.

Environmental influences before and during pregnancy significantly impact offspring development. This study investigates open research questions regarding the associations between maternal early life stress (ELS), prenatal psychosocial stress, prenatal hair cortisol (HC), and birth outcomes in Argentinian women. Data on ELS, prenatal life events, HC (two samples representing first and second half of pregnancy), and birth outcomes were collected from middle-class Argentinian women (N = 69) upon delivery. Linear mixed models indicated that HC increased from the first half to the second half of pregnancy with considerable variability in the starting values and slopes between individuals. Mothers who experienced more ELS, were taller, or more educated, tended to show lower increases in HC. Older age was positively related to HC increases. Our data did not suggest an interaction between ELS and prenatal life events in relation to HC. We found that the change in HC was most likely negatively associated with birth weight. Our data are most compatible with either a weak or the absence of an association between ELS or prenatal life events and absolute values of HC. Mothers with stronger increases in hair cortisol tended to have newborns with slightly lower birth weight. Hence, ELS and birthweight may either have been related to changes in cortisol exposure during pregnancy or to factors that influence accumulation or retention of cortisol in hair.

Prenatal maternal stress and the severity of autism spectrum disorder: A cross-sectional study.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder linked to several genetic and environmental factors including antenatal stress. Hence, we aimed to examine whether a mother's stress during pregnancy is associated with the severity of autism spectrum disorder in children. The study was conducted with 459 mothers of children with autism (aged 2-14 years) who were attending rehabilitation and educational centers in the two major cities of Makkah and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Environmental factors, consanguinity, and ASD family history were assessed using a validated questionnaire. The Prenatal Life Events Scale questionnaire was used to assess whether the mothers were exposed to stress during pregnancy. Two models of ordinal regression analysis were conducted including gender, child age maternal age, parental age, maternal education, parental education, income nicotine exposure, mother taking medication during pregnancy, family history of ASD, gestation, consanguinity, exposure of prenatal life events (in model 1), and severity of prenatal life events (in model 2). Family history of ASD showed a statistically significant association with the severity of ASD in both regression models (p = .015, odds ratio [OR]: 4.261 in Model 1, and p = .014, OR: 4.901 in model 2). In model 2, the moderate severity prenatal life events showed higher statistically significant adjusted odds ratio for ASD severity compared to no stress (p = .031; OR: 3.82). Within the limitations of this study, prenatal stressors showed some potential contribution to ASD severity. Family history of ASD was the only factor that showed a persistent association with ASD severity. A study that assesses the effect of COVID-19 stress on ASD prevalence and severity is recommended.

First-appearing islet autoantibodies for type 1 diabetes in young children: maternal life events during pregnancy and the child's genetic risk.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Psychological stress has long been considered a possible trigger of type 1 diabetes, although prospective studies examining the link between psychological stress or life events during pregnancy and the child's type 1 diabetes risk are rare. The objective of this study was to examine the association between life events during pregnancy and first-appearing islet autoantibodies (IA) in young children, conditioned by the child's type 1 diabetes-related genetic risk. METHODS: The IA status of 7317 genetically at-risk The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) participants was assessed every 3 months from 3 months to 4 years, and bi-annually thereafter. Reports of major life events during pregnancy were collected at study inception when the child was 3 months of age and placed into one of six categories. Life events during pregnancy were examined for association with first-appearing insulin (IAA) (N = 222) or GAD (GADA) (N = 209) autoantibodies in the child until 6 years of age using proportional hazard models. Relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) by the child's HLA-DR and SNP profile was estimated. RESULTS: Overall, 65% of mothers reported a life event during pregnancy; disease/injury (25%), serious interpersonal (28%) and job-related (25%) life events were most common. The association of life events during pregnancy differed between IAA and GADA as the first-appearing autoantibody. Serious interpersonal life events correlated with increased risk of GADA-first only in HLA-DR3 children with the BACH2-T allele (HR 2.28, p < 0.0001), an additive interaction (RERI 1.87, p = 0.0004). Job-related life events were also associated with increased risk of GADA-first among HLA-DR3/4 children (HR 1.53, p = 0.04) independent of serious interpersonal life events (HR 1.90, p = 0.002), an additive interaction (RERI 1.19, p = 0.004). Job-related life events correlated with reduced risk of IAA-first (HR 0.55, p = 0.004), particularly in children with the BTNL2-GG allele (HR 0.48; 95% CI 0.31, 0.76). CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Specific life events during pregnancy are differentially related to IAA vs GADA as first-appearing IA and interact with different HLA and non-HLA genetic factors, supporting the concept of different endotypes underlying type 1 diabetes. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain to be discovered. Life events may be markers for other yet-to-be-identified factors important to the development of first-appearing IA.

Effects of Low and High Maternal Protein Intake on Fetal Skeletal Muscle miRNAome in Sheep.

Prenatal maternal feeding plays an important role in fetal development and has the potential to induce long-lasting epigenetic modifications. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding, single-stranded RNAs that serve as one epigenetic mechanism. Though miRNAs have crucial roles in fetal programming, growth, and development, there is limited data regarding the maternal diet and miRNA expression in sheep. Therefore, we analyzed high and low maternal dietary protein for miRNA expression in fetal longissimus dorsi. Pregnant ewes were fed an isoenergetic high-protein (HP, 160-270 g/day), low-protein (LP, 73-112 g/day), or standard-protein diet (SP, 119-198 g/day) during pregnancy. miRNA expression profiles were evaluated using the Affymetrix GeneChip miRNA 4.0 Array. Twelve up-regulated, differentially expressed miRNAs (DE miRNAs) were identified which are targeting 65 genes. The oar-3957-5p miRNA was highly up-regulated in the LP and SP compared to the HP. Previous transcriptome analysis identified that integrin and non-receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase genes targeted by miRNAs were detected in the current experiment. A total of 28 GO terms and 10 pathway-based gene sets were significantly (padj < 0.05) enriched in the target genes. Most genes targeted by the identified miRNAs are involved in immune and muscle disease pathways. Our study demonstrated that dietary protein intake during pregnancy affected fetal skeletal muscle epigenetics via miRNA expression.

Identification and validation of differentially expressed genes from pig skeletal muscle.

Pig is an important animal for meat production; this is generally associated with characteristics determined prenatally during myogenesis. Expressed sequence tags (EST) can provide direct information on the transcriptome and indirect information on the relation between the genome and phenotype, giving information about differentially expressed genes (DEG). In this work, the identification and annotation of DEG from EST libraries of three pig breeds (Duroc, Large White and Local Breed Piau) were performed followed by real-time PCR analyses during pre- and postnatal stages (21, 40, 70 and 90 days of pregnancy and 107, 121 and 171 days postnatal) from commercial breed animals for analysis of genes expression levels. Therefore, 34 genes differentially expressed were identified, of which 21 grouped in a network related with muscle development. From this, the expression profile of 13 genes was measured, to confirm their relationship with myogenesis like ANKRD2, MYBPC1, NEB and MYL2. These genes showed a prenatal high expression in this study. Besides, novels candidates for muscle development (TP53 and DCTN1) were listed. These findings can contribute to better explaining gene function mechanism and are helpful in uncovering the pathways that mediate pre- and postnatal skeletal muscle development in vertebrates.

Prenatal Learning and Memory: Review on the Impact of Exposure.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal Learning is a topic still debated for its existence, although the concept is well known since ancient times. OBJECTIVE: The present review highlights the impact of various stimuli on learning and memory in prenatal and postnatal life. METHODS: For review, various articles from preclinical and clinical studies providing early pieces of evidence of prenatal learning to date were included based on the relevancy of the databases, namely, Scopus, Pubmed, and Google Scholar. RESULTS: Learning is the process of acquiring skills/ preferences/ habits from the experiences of the exposures of the past. These exposures are the stimuli, which help in categorizing learning into associated or nonassociated learning. The stimuli of adults related to auditory, gustatory, olfactory, visual, touch, etc. are also accessible to the prenatal life in utero either directly or indirectly through the mother. The effects of these stimuli are remarkable during prenatal life and can be seen clearly in infants. These stimuli play an important role in prenatal learning and contribute to neuronal development. The present review summarizes the pieces of evidence for each of these types of learning & their impact on the ex utero life, a futuristic view & the scope of understanding prenatal learning. The review also elucidates the factors affecting prenatal learning. CONCLUSION: Studies from clinical and preclinical studies reflected the impacts of several aspects of an infant's life and the memory created during prenatal life was found to be most likely carried on to postnatal life.

Incorporation of 5-Bromo-2'-deoxyuridine into DNA and Proliferative Behavior of Cerebellar Neuroblasts: All That Glitters Is Not Gold.

The synthetic halogenated pyrimidine analog, 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU), is a marker of DNA synthesis. This exogenous nucleoside has generated important insights into the cellular mechanisms of the central nervous system development in a variety of animals including insects, birds, and mammals. Despite this, the detrimental effects of the incorporation of BrdU into DNA on proliferation and viability of different types of cells has been frequently neglected. This review will summarize and present the effects of a pulse of BrdU, at doses ranging from 25 to 300 µg/g, or repeated injections. The latter, following the method of the progressively delayed labeling comprehensive procedure. The prenatal and perinatal development of the cerebellum are studied. These current data have implications for the interpretation of the results obtained by this marker as an index of the generation, migration, and settled pattern of neurons in the developing central nervous system. Caution should be exercised when interpreting the results obtained using BrdU. This is particularly important when high or repeated doses of this agent are injected. I hope that this review sheds light on the effects of this toxic maker. It may be used as a reference for toxicologists and neurobiologists given the broad use of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine to label dividing cells.

Morphometric changes in the spinal cord during prenatal life: a stereological study in sheep.

This study describes the volumetric changes in the spinal cord during prenatal life in sheep using quantitative stereological methods. Twenty healthy sheep fetuses were included in the present study, divided into four groups representing 9-11, 12-14, 15-17, and 18-20 weeks of gestation. In each group, the spinal cord was dissected out and sampled according to the unbiased systematic random sampling method then used for stereological estimations. The total volume of spinal cord, volume of gray matter (GM), volume of white matter (WM), ratio of GM volume to WM volume, and volume of central canal (CC) were estimated in the whole spinal cord and its various regions using Cavalieri's principle. The total volume of the spinal cord increased 8 times from week 9 to week 20. The cervical region showed the greatest (9.7 times) and the sacral region the least (6.3 times) volumetric change. The CC volume of the whole spinal cord increased 5.8 times from week 9 to week 20. The cervical region developed faster (8.2 times) and the thoracic region slower (4.4 times) than the total spinal cord. During development, the volume ratio of GM to WM decreased from lower toward upper regions. The greatest volume changes occurred mostly in weeks 9-11 and 12-14. The cervical region showed the greatest volume changes in comparison with other regions of the spinal cord.

Histogenesis of testicular parenchyma during prenatal life in buffalo / Histogénesis del parénquima testicular durante la vida intrauterina en el búfalo

The study was conducted on the testes of 18 buffalo foetii to reveal histogenesis and differentiation of different cells of testicular parenchyma. At 8.0 cm CVR (65 days) the seminiferous tubules were present at gonadal periphery and a network of polygonal mesenchymal cells was seen in the centre of testis. These tubules were surrounded by a distinct basement membrane and a single layer of peritubular cells at 10 cm CVR (74 days), which became double layered at 88.0 cm CVR (272 days). The testicular parenchyma at 12.0 cm CVR had two zones; outer zone having longitudinal tubules and inner zone having rounded tubules. But a reverse pattern of their arrangement was observed at 14.0 cm CVR (92 days). The pre-Sertoli cells were first observed in buffalo foetii of 8.0 cm CVR (65 days) in the periphery of seminiferous tubular epithelium whereas the gonocytes were demonstrable in the centre of tubules at 10.6 cm CVR (76 days). The fetal Leydig cells were also reported at 8.0 cm CVR (65 days) but at 14.0 cm CVR (92 days), the interstitium had considerably expanded due to the differentiation of mesenchymal cells into the Leydig cells.

El estudio fue realizado en los testículos de 18 fetos de búfalos, para revelar la histogénesis y diferenciación de las diferentes células de parénquima testicular. A los 8,0 cm de longitud corona-rabadilla (LCR) (65 días) los túbulos seminíferos estuvieron presentes en la periferia de la gónada y una red poligonal de células mesenquimales se observó en el centro del testículo. Estos túbulos estaban rodeados por una membrana basal y una sola capa de células peritubular a los 10 cm LCR (74 días), la cual se convirtió en una doble capa a los 88,0 cm LCR (272 días). El parénquima testicular a 12,0 cm LCR tenía dos zonas, zona exterior con túbulos longitudinales y zona interior con los túbulos redondeados transversalmente. Sin embargo, un patrón inverso en su disposición se observó a los 14,0 cm LCR (92 días). Las células pre-Sertoli se observaron primero en fetos de búfalos de 8,0 cm LCR (65 días) en la periferia del epitelio seminífero tubular, mientras que los gonocitos fueron visibles en el centro de los túbulos a 10,6 cm LCR (76 días). Las células de Leydig fetales también se observaron a los 8,0 cm LCR (65 días), pero a los 14,0 cm LCR (92 días), el intersticio tuvo una considerable expansión debido a la diferenciación de células mesenquimales en células de Leydig.