Related Experiment Video For Cannabis
Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Optimized Analysis of DNA Methylation and Gene Expression from Small, Anatomically-defined Areas of the Brain
Published on: July 12, 2012
Prenatal delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure is associated with changes in rhesus macaque DNA methylation enriched
Lyndsey E Shorey-Kendrick1, Victoria H J Roberts2, Rahul J D'Mello3
1Division of Neuroscience, Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, OR, 97006, USA. shorey@ohsu.edu.
Background:
With the growing availability of cannabis and the popularization of additional routes of cannabis use beyond smoking, including edibles, the prevalence of cannabis use in pregnancy is rapidly increasing. However, the potential effects of prenatal cannabis use on fetal developmental programming remain unknown.
Results:
We designed this study to determine whether the use of edible cannabis during pregnancy is deleterious to the fetal and placental epigenome. Pregnant rhesus macaques consumed a daily edible containing either delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (2.5 mg/7 kg/day) or placebo. DNA methylation was measured in 5 tissues collected at cesarean delivery (placenta, lung, cerebellum, prefrontal cortex, and right ventricle of the heart) using the Illumina MethylationEPIC platform and filtering for probes previously validated in rhesus macaque. In utero exposure to THC was associated with differential methylation at 581 CpGs, with 573 (98%) identified in placenta. Loci differentially methylated with THC were enriched for candidate autism spectrum disorder (ASD) genes from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) database in all tissues. The placenta demonstrated greatest SFARI gene enrichment, including genes differentially methylated in placentas from a prospective ASD study.
Conclusions:
Overall, our findings reveal that prenatal THC exposure alters placental and fetal DNA methylation at genes involved in neurobehavioral development that may influence longer-term offspring outcomes. The data from this study add to the limited existing literature to help guide patient counseling and public health polices focused on prenatal cannabis use in the future.
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