Bad consequences threaten the child with stress during pregnancy

Study examines effects of stress in pregnancy on the offspring
Conditions in the womb are essential for the healthy development of the child and can have lifelong effects. Scientists at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin are now planning to investigate the consequences of stress in pregnancy for the cell biology and cell aging of the offspring.

According to the researchers, the stress in pregnancy could have far more far-reaching consequences than previously thought. If stress factors of the mother during pregnancy influence the child's developmental processes, they could already shape physiological mechanisms at this point in time so that the effects last far into later life and the risk of age-related diseases increases, reports the Berlin Charité.

Scientists at the Berlin Charité are researching the consequences of stress in pregnancy for the future development of the child. (Image: highwaystarz / fotolia.com)

Basis of aging processes already laid in the womb?
Although aging processes can be determined by definition with advancing age. However, the basis for its course may already be laid in the womb in many places. According to the Charité, the time of growing up in the mother's womb has a major impact on the future health and development of the child. Prenatal stress may be transmitted directly to the unborn child. The effects of this stress on cell biology and cell aging will be investigated by the research team headed by Prof. Dr. med. Sonja Entringer from the Institute of Medical Psychology at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin now in a study on 350 mother-child pairs examine.

Study on the effects of prenatal stress
"For several years, Prof. Entringer's work has focused on the relationships between stress factors and disease risks, with emphasis on telomere biology and cell aging processes," notes the Charité. Using 350 mother-child couples, who are accompanied by the pregnancy to the first year of childhood, the researchers hope to gain new insights into the effects of prenatal stress. Among other things, psychological and physiological characteristics as well as the behavior during pregnancy, which should be recorded with smart phone apps in everyday life, are recorded. According to the Charité, the creation of the research group will be funded by the European Research Council "with 1.48 million euros in the next five years".

Influence of prenatal stress on developmental conditions
The basic assumption is that age-related symptoms are caused by a number of factors that accumulate over the course of a lifetime or that are exposed to a human being. But the scientists around Prof. Entringer pursue a new research approach, according to a report from the Charité. "It is possible that changes in cell aging processes and mechanisms that control them already originate in the womb," explains Prof. Entringer. Thus, they are critically exposed to the influence of prenatal conditions of development, "among many other factors, including stress," said Entringer.

Increases the stress burden of the mother's risk of illness?
The planned study is to "clarify the question of a connection between stress stress of the mother and biological changes in the newborn over the first year of life," reports the Berlin Charité. "Understanding the molecular biology and epigenetic mechanisms that increase maternal stress levels increases the risk for next-generation diseases, opens up new perspectives that increase the precision of clinical diagnostics and the success of prevention and interventions," explains the lead investigator Entringer. If necessary, countermeasures could be used "at very early stages of development, before the actual manifestation of diseases occurs," emphasizes Prof. Entringer. (Fp)