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Updated: Jul 18, 2025

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
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Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants

Published on: June 13, 2021

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Associations between prenatal maternal stress, maternal inflammation during pregnancy, and children's internalizing

Zahra M Clayborne1, Runyu Zou2, Stephen E Gilman3

  • 1School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
|August 22, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Maternal stress during pregnancy is linked to children's behavioral symptoms, but not through maternal immune activation. Further research is needed to explore other potential mechanisms.

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive Health
  • Child Psychology
  • Immunology

Background:

  • Maternal stress during pregnancy is a potential factor in offspring mental health issues.
  • Maternal immune activation is hypothesized to mediate this link.
  • Understanding this relationship is crucial for prenatal care and child development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between prenatal maternal stress and child internalizing/externalizing symptoms.
  • To examine the role of maternal inflammation (CRP) in this association.
  • To determine if maternal inflammation mediates the link between prenatal stress and child behavioral outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Study included 4,902 mother-child dyads from the Generation R study.
  • Prenatal maternal stress assessed via self-report; maternal inflammation via C-reactive protein (CRP) levels.
  • Child behavioral symptoms measured using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at ages 3, 5, and 10 years.

Main Results:

  • Prenatal maternal stress correlated with child internalizing and externalizing symptoms at multiple time points.
  • Maternal CRP levels showed associations with child symptoms before covariate adjustment, but not after.
  • No evidence found for CRP mediating the relationship between prenatal stress and child behavioral outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Prenatal maternal stress is associated with increased child behavioral symptoms.
  • Maternal immune activation (CRP) does not appear to mediate this association.
  • Further research should explore alternative biomarkers and immune variations during pregnancy.
Abstract

Keywords:
Cohort studyExternalizing symptomsInflammationInternalizing symptomsPrenatal stress

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