Bosi Chen, Lanxin Ji, Youngwoo Bryan Yoon, Mark Duffy, Iris Menu, Christopher J. Trentacosta, Moriah E. Thomason
{"title":"Maternal Prenatal Psychological Stress and Iron Levels in the Fetal Brain","authors":"Bosi Chen, Lanxin Ji, Youngwoo Bryan Yoon, Mark Duffy, Iris Menu, Christopher J. Trentacosta, Moriah E. Thomason","doi":"10.1002/dev.70062","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n <p>Fetal iron status has long-lasting effects on neurodevelopmental outcomes and risk of psychopathology. Although prenatal exposure to maternal psychological stress has been linked to offspring peripheral iron status at birth, it is unknown whether maternal prenatal stress is related to fetal brain iron during gestation. We utilized 86 multi-echo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans from 52 fetuses (23 females; gestational age [GA] 24–38 weeks) to estimate R2* relaxometry as a proxy for fetal brain iron levels. Our results showed that greater maternal anxiety symptoms were associated with higher estimated fetal iron levels in the left cerebellar vermis after controlling for fetal sex and GA. Our finding suggests that fetal brain iron levels may be sensitive to exposure to maternal stress in utero. In a subset of participants with available infant outcome data (<i>n</i> = 31), no significant associations were found between fetal brain iron levels and later cognitive, language, and motor development during infancy. Overall, this study presents the first evidence of associations between maternal prenatal stress and fetal brain iron, which lays the groundwork for future investigations of biological embedding of prenatal maternal stress on the fetal brain and later neurodevelopment through prenatal iron accumulation as a potential mechanism.</p>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":11086,"journal":{"name":"Developmental psychobiology","volume":"67 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental psychobiology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dev.70062","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Fetal iron status has long-lasting effects on neurodevelopmental outcomes and risk of psychopathology. Although prenatal exposure to maternal psychological stress has been linked to offspring peripheral iron status at birth, it is unknown whether maternal prenatal stress is related to fetal brain iron during gestation. We utilized 86 multi-echo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans from 52 fetuses (23 females; gestational age [GA] 24–38 weeks) to estimate R2* relaxometry as a proxy for fetal brain iron levels. Our results showed that greater maternal anxiety symptoms were associated with higher estimated fetal iron levels in the left cerebellar vermis after controlling for fetal sex and GA. Our finding suggests that fetal brain iron levels may be sensitive to exposure to maternal stress in utero. In a subset of participants with available infant outcome data (n = 31), no significant associations were found between fetal brain iron levels and later cognitive, language, and motor development during infancy. Overall, this study presents the first evidence of associations between maternal prenatal stress and fetal brain iron, which lays the groundwork for future investigations of biological embedding of prenatal maternal stress on the fetal brain and later neurodevelopment through prenatal iron accumulation as a potential mechanism.
期刊介绍:
Developmental Psychobiology is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research papers from the disciplines of psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine that contribute to an understanding of behavior development. Research that focuses on development in the embryo/fetus, neonate, juvenile, or adult animal and multidisciplinary research that relates behavioral development to anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, or evolution is appropriate. The journal represents a broad phylogenetic perspective on behavior development by publishing studies of invertebrates, fish, birds, humans, and other animals. The journal publishes experimental and descriptive studies whether carried out in the laboratory or field.
The journal also publishes review articles and theoretical papers that make important conceptual contributions. Special dedicated issues of Developmental Psychobiology , consisting of invited papers on a topic of general interest, may be arranged with the Editor-in-Chief.
Developmental Psychobiology also publishes Letters to the Editor, which discuss issues of general interest or material published in the journal. Letters discussing published material may correct errors, provide clarification, or offer a different point of view. Authors should consult the editors on the preparation of these contributions.