Maternal Prenatal Stress and the Offspring Gut Microbiome: A Cross-Species Systematic Review
Michelle D Graf1, Nicolas Murgueitio2, Sarah C Vogel3
1School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Insights
Maternal prenatal stress impacts infant gut microbiome composition, altering key bacterial groups. This disruption may increase offspring susceptibility to health issues, highlighting the importance of prenatal well-being.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Developmental Biology
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
Background:
- The prenatal period is crucial for long-term health, with the gut microbiome playing a significant role in development.
- Maternal prenatal stress can negatively impact infant gut microbiome development, potentially leading to adverse health outcomes.
- Understanding the prenatal stress-offspring gut microbiome relationship is vital for identifying early intervention strategies.
Approach:
- A cross-species systematic review was conducted, analyzing 19 peer-reviewed articles.
- Studies included humans, rodents, and non-human primates, focusing on maternal prenatal stress and offspring gut microbiome.
- Data synthesis examined effects on microbial diversity (alpha and beta) and specific taxa.
Key Points:
- Prenatal stress was associated with altered beta diversity and specific microbial taxa in offspring, but not alpha diversity.
- Positive correlations with prenatal stress were observed for Proteobacteria, Bacteroidaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Prevotellaceae, Bacteroides, and Serratia.
- Negative correlations were found for Actinobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Streptococcaceae, Bifidobacteria, Eggerthella, Parabacteroides, and Streptococcus; Lactobacillus showed mixed results.
Conclusions:
- Maternal prenatal stress demonstrably affects the offspring's gut microbiome composition across species.
- The findings suggest a link between prenatal stress, gut dysbiosis, and potential long-term health implications for offspring.
- Limitations include variations in study design, stress assessment, and microbiome analysis methods, necessitating further standardized research.
Abstract:
The prenatal period is a critical developmental juncture with enduring effects on offspring health trajectories. An individual's gut microbiome is associated with health and developmental outcomes across the lifespan. Prenatal stress can disrupt an infant's microbiome, thereby increasing susceptibility to adverse outcomes. This cross-species systematic review investigates whether maternal prenatal stress affects the offspring's gut microbiome. The study analyzes 19 empirical, peer-reviewed research articles, including humans, rodents, and non-human primates, that included prenatal stress as a primary independent variable and offspring gut microbiome characteristics as an outcome variable. Prenatal stress appeared to correlate with differences in beta diversity and specific microbial taxa, but not alpha diversity. Prenatal stress is positively correlated with Proteobacteria, Bacteroidaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Prevotellaceae, Bacteroides, and Serratia. Negative correlations were observed for Actinobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Streptococcaceae, Bifidobacteria, Eggerthella, Parabacteroides, and Streptococcus. Evidence for the direction of association between prenatal stress and Lactobacillus was mixed. The synthesis of findings was limited by differences in study design, operationalization and timing of prenatal stress, timing of infant microbiome sampling, and microbiome analysis methods.
