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Placental Gene Expression and Offspring Temperament Trajectories: Predicting Negative Affect in Early Childhood

J Finik1,2, J Buthmann3,4, W Zhang3,5

  • 1CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, 55 W 125th St., New York, NY, 10027, USA. jfinik@qc.cuny.edu.

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
|March 19, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Prenatal stress can impact offspring neurobehavior. Placental gene expression, specifically HSD11B1 and NCOR2, may predict infant negative affect and distress, offering early identification possibilities.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Prenatal stress is linked to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes and psychopathology in offspring, including ADHD.
  • Epigenetic mechanisms, particularly the regulation of glucocorticoid pathway genes, are implicated in how maternal stress 'programs' fetal brain development.
  • Identifying early biomarkers for neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities is crucial for timely intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if placental mRNA expression of specific glucocorticoid pathway genes predicts offspring negative affect traits in early childhood.
  • To explore the relationship between placental gene expression and trajectories of negative affect and distress from 6 to 24 months of age.

Main Methods:

  • A longitudinal birth cohort study involving 318 mother-child dyads.
  • Profiling of placental mRNA expression for glucocorticoid pathway genes: HSD11B1, HSD11B2, NR3C1, and NCOR2.
  • Assessment of infant negative affect traits via maternal self-report at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months.

Main Results:

  • HSD11B1 mRNA expression significantly predicted overall negative affect and distress to limitations.
  • NCOR2 mRNA expression significantly predicted distress to limitations and marginally predicted sadness.
  • HSD11B2 and NR3C1 mRNA expression did not predict negative affect or its subscales.

Conclusions:

  • Placental mRNA expression of HSD11B1 and NCOR2 may serve as potential early biomarkers for identifying infants at risk for elevated negative affect.
  • These findings suggest a link between the maternal environment during pregnancy, placental gene expression, and offspring emotional regulation.
  • Further research is warranted to validate the clinical utility of placental gene expression for predicting infant neurobehavioral outcomes.

Keywords:
Developmental trajectories, longitudinal dataNegative affectPlacental gene expressionmRNA

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