Stress-responsive Psychobiological Markers During Pregnancy and Fetal and Infant Outcomes Across Countries

Abstract

The prenatal period is a sensitive window of development that is open to both opportunity and risk for predicting later developmental outcomes. There are multiple stress-responsive physiological systems during pregnancy that may mediate the link between stress exposure and physical and mental health. Alterations in these systems during gestation due to elevated stress exposure can lead to poorer health in both the gestational parent and the offspring. In this symposium, we examine stress-responsive psychobiological systems during pregnancy and their association with differential developmental outcomes during gestation, at birth, and in infancy by a multinational group of researchers. The first presentation by the symposium chair, Özlü Aran (University of Denver, USA), will focus on the trajectories of placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (pCRH), a stress-responsive hormone released by placenta, and their association with birth outcomes as well as infant socioemotional development at 6 months postpartum. In the second presentation, Dr. Elif Aysimi Duman (Boğaziçi University, Turkey) will highlight intergenerational associations of parental early life stress and gestational parent prenatal cortisol awakening response with infant development at 4 months postpartum. This study underscores psychosocial risk (i.e., pregnancy-related worries) and protective factors (i.e., fetal bonding) in addition to prenatal HPA activity during gestation. In the third presentation, Dr. Sameera Abuaish (Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia) will extend research findings beyond HPA axis by demonstrating the association between gestational parent body mass index (BMI) and prenatal mood and immune functioning, while also linking BMI to both fetal and infant outcomes. Consistent with the ISPNE’s 2023 symposium translational psychoneuroendocrinology themes, these presentations apply basic scientific methods to understand better health outcomes for gestational parents and their offspring with a focus on stress-responsive physiological systems during pregnancy. Together, they underscore the importance of early life stressors as well as prenatal stressors and their potential impact over generations among individuals across countries and cultures. Finally, these presentations will be discussed by a leading investigator, Dr. Jenalee Doom (University of Denver, USA), who has expertise on early life stress and the biological embedding of early experiences across development with a special focus on mental and physical health.