Summary: A recent study demonstrates that anxiety during pregnancy is chemically alter the stress response systems of newborns, with significant variations between boys and girls. According to research, parental stress altered whole families of ribosome fragments in the umbilical cord blood, particularly those that control the key neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
These modifications were most evident in adult newborns because there wasn’t a balance between the pressure regulation mechanisms. The findings emphasize the crucial role that maternal mental health plays in children’s overall well-being for the rest of their lives.
Important Information
- Sex-Specific Effects: Adult newborns who were born during parental stress experienced more profound molecular changes.
- Cholinergic System Disruption: Stress-related ribosome changes that affect mental and defensive work affect governing acetylcholine.
- Early Detection Potential: Based on molecular patterns, machine learning could accurately define exposed newborns with 95 % accuracy.
Jerusalem Hebrew University
A new study led by Prof. Hermona Soreq and Shani Vaknine Treidel from Hebrew University’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center of Brain Science ( ELSC ) shows how stress experienced during pregnancy can have a significant impact on newborns at the molecular level, with significant differences between male and female babies.
The study, which was published in  , Molecular Psychiatry,  , focused on perceived prenatal stress ( PPS), which refers to the mother’s perception of psychological stress during pregnancy and also discovered that it can reprogram important molecular systems in the body, particularly those that are related to the cholinergic system, which regulates stress response and inflammation.
According to our findings, the stress their mother experience may influence how their bodies manage stress themselves even before the infants take their first mouth,” said Prof. Soreq.
The team examined umbilical cord blood from newborns who had experienced high anxiety levels during the second month. They concentrated on ribosome bits, or little RNA molecules, that control gene expression in a similar way to microRNAs.
What they discovered was remarkable: stress did not only affect individual tRFs; it also affected entire families of tRFs, specifically those that had mitochondrial DNA roots.
Adult newborns displayed the most remarkable shifts, including a nearly-complete decline in particular mitochondrial tRFs, sex-specific changes.
Many of these” CholinotRFs,” or” TRFs,” target genes that control acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter crucial for both brain function and immune regulation.
A study also examined the levels of acetylcholinesterase (AChE ), an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine.
Babies of stressed mothers, especially boys, had significantly higher AChE rates, which suggests a misalignment in their stress-response method from birth.
These chemical changes might help explain why pregnant women who are exposed to high maternal stress may be more susceptible to eventually psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions later in life.
The researchers achieved a 95 % classification success rate ( AUC) by using machine learning techniques to accurately classify female newborns as exposed or not exposed to maternal stress based on their CholinotRF profiles.
This opens the door to novel medical equipment that can identify prenatal stressors and, perhaps, even suggest quick treatments.
This study provides a compelling look at how the parental environment may influence the next generation biologically, according to Vaknine Treidel, b.
It also emphasizes the value of recognizing and supporting mental health during pregnancy, not just for the family but also for the child’s long-term wellbeing.
In cooperation with, among others, the Technical University of Munich and the University of Washington, this study was carried out as part of the global Joy job.
More than 120 mother-infant pair were taken from body tests and analyzed at the Hebrew University’s Center for Genomic Technologies.
About this news article about biology studies, pregnancy, and stress.
Author: Hermona Soreq
Source: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Contact: Hermona Soreq – Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
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Hermona Soreq and colleagues ‘ study,” Maternal prenatal pressure induces sex-dependent alterations in tRNA part families and acute pathways in newborns.” Chemical Psychiatry
Abstract
In newborns, tRNA part families and glutamate pathways are sex-dependent. Maternal prenatal stress causes sex-dependent changes in tRNA piece families and acute pathways.
Maternal perceived antenatal stress ( PPS) is a known risk factor for a variety of developmental disorders in children, but the main molecular mechanisms are still undeveloped.
We report that in a sex-dependent way, maternal PPS altered the birth profiles of blood transfer RNA fragments (tRFs ), 16–50 nt long non-random cleavage products of tRNAs.
Interestingly, the differences between control and stressed parental and control blood serum revealed alterations that were not limited to personal tRFs but also reflected careful changes in specific tRF families classified according to their mitochondrial or nuclear genome origin, parental tRNA coded amino acids, and cleavage type.
Particularly, tRF families with stress- and sex-specific results revealed shared size and expression patterns that were strongest in adult newborns.
Several of these tRFs have comparable motifs for specific acute mRNAs, which suggests that there may be clinical regulation similar to microRNAs.
These” CholinotRFs” achieved an AUC of 95 % when classifying female newborns based on maternal PPS, which is compatible with the cholinergic regulation of stress reactions.
Additionally, we discovered a second sex-specific effect by altering serum acetylcholinesterase’s enzymatic activity, which was particularly high in adult newborns.
Our results show that treatment families ‘ patterns are related to children ‘ sex-specific stress responses to PPS, and they may provide better diagnostic and therapeutic tools for these and other stress.
