Neuroepigenetics of Prenatal Psychological Stress

Life does not start at birth but at conception. What a person experiences during the first 9 months of life in the intrauterine environment will have lasting effects on health and disease later in life. Psychological stress in pregnant women has a number of potential negative consequences for the physical and psychological function of their children. The mechanisms driving this association are, among others, epigenetic modifications at specific loci in the infant DNA. In the chapter, the relevant animal and human studies underlying these assumptions are reviewed, and it is argued that they are convincingly supported by the evidence. However, a number of methodological issues are discussed, and it is shown that the actual search for the genetic loci that are epigenetically modified by prenatal psychological stress is still in its early phases. A new exciting field of research has opened up that is particularly relevant for our understanding of how early life experiences shape our biology and psychology.