Association between Psychosocial Stress and Fecal Microbiota in Pregnant Women

C Hechler,K Borewicz,E Saccenti,R Beijers,M Riksen-Walraven,H Smidt,C De Weerth

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-40434-8

Abstract

Maternal prenatal psychosocial stress is associated with altered child emotional and behavioral development. One potential underlying mechanism is that prenatal psychosocial stress affects child outcomes via the mother’s, and in turn the child’s, intestinal microbiota. This study investigates the first step of this mechanism: the relation between psychosocial stress and fecal microbiota in pregnant mothers. Mothers (N = 70) provided a late pregnancy stool sample and filled in questionnaires on general and pregnancy-specific stress and anxiety. Bacterial DNA was extracted and analysed by Illumina HiSeq sequencing of PCR-amplified 16 S ribosomal RNA gene fragments. Associations between maternal general anxiety and microbial composition were found. No associations between the other measured psychosocial stress variables and the relative abundance of microbial groups were detected. This study shows associations between maternal pregnancy general anxiety and microbial composition, providing first evidence of a mechanism through which psychological symptoms in pregnancy may affect the offspring.

Highlights

The most investigated mechanism to explain the relations between maternal prenatal psychosocial stress and child outcomes is increased hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis) activation, resulting in increased cortisol concentrations that could harm the developing fetus[7]
One human study found that infant intestinal microbiota from mothers with high prenatal psychosocial stress was characterized by more Proteobacteria, and lower levels of Actinobacteria and lactobacilli[17]
The current study investigated an essential step of the proposed mechanism behind the links between maternal pregnancy psychosocial stress and child outcomes: the relation between psychosocial stress and fecal microbiota in pregnant mothers

Summary

Introduction

The most investigated mechanism to explain the relations between maternal prenatal psychosocial stress and child outcomes is increased hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis) activation, resulting in increased cortisol concentrations that could harm the developing fetus[7]. One less studied underlying mechanism is that prenatal psychosocial stress affects the child via the mother’s, and in turn the infant’s intestinal microbiota[8]. This study is the first to investigate an essential part of this potential mechanism, namely the relation between psychosocial stress and fecal microbiota in pregnant mothers. One human study found that infant intestinal microbiota from mothers with high prenatal psychosocial stress was characterized by more Proteobacteria, and lower levels of Actinobacteria and lactobacilli[17]

Methods

Results

Conclusion