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Transgenerational inheritance of stress pathology
Stephen G Matthews1, David I Phillips
1Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Medical Sciences Building, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A8, Canada. stephen.matthews@utoronto.ca
Experimental Neurology
|February 2, 2011
Summary
Maternal stress during pregnancy can cause lasting effects on offspring, extending across multiple generations. These impacts on stress responses and health are observed in humans and may be transmitted epigenetically.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive biology
- Developmental psychology
- Endocrinology
Background:
- Maternal exposure to adversity during pregnancy has profound, lifelong effects on offspring.
- While some effects of maternal stress on endocrine and behavioral outcomes are common in the first generation, they are highly dependent on species, sex, age, and timing of stress during pregnancy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the evidence for multi-generational effects of maternal stress.
- To explore potential mechanisms underlying transgenerational programming of the stress response.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent scientific literature on maternal stress and offspring outcomes.
- Analysis of studies investigating transgenerational inheritance of stress responses.
Main Results:
- Effects of maternal stress are not limited to the first generation and can extend across multiple generations, including in humans.
- Potential mechanisms include modified maternal adaptations, altered maternal behavior, and transgenerational epigenetic programming.
Conclusions:
- Transgenerational programming of stress responses and pathologies has significant societal implications.
- Understanding these mechanisms may explain the generational persistence of certain behaviors in populations exposed to adversity.
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