Primal Health Databank: Study
| Entry No: | 0925 |
| Title: | DNA methylation signatures triggered by prenatal maternal stress exposure to a natural disaster: Project Ice Storm. |
| Author(s): | Cao-Lei L, Massart R, et al. |
| Reference: | PLoS One. 2014 Sep 19;9(9):e107653. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107653. eCollection 2014. |
| Place of Study: | Canada |
| Abstract: | Five months after the 1998 Quebec ice storm the authors recruited women who had been pregnant during the disaster and assessed their degrees of objective hardship and subjective distress. Thirteen years later, they investigated DNA methylation profiling in T cells obtained from 36 of the children, and compared selected results with those from saliva samples obtained from the same children at age 8.
Prenatal maternal objective hardship was correlated with DNA methylation levels in 1675 CGs affiliated with 957 genes predominantly related to immune function; maternal subjective distress was uncorrelated. DNA methylation changes in SCG5 and LTA, both highly correlated with maternal objective stress, were comparable in T cells, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and saliva cells.
CONCLUSIONS:
These data provide first evidence in humans supporting the conclusion that PNMS results in a lasting, broad, and functionally organized DNA methylation signature in several tissues in offspring. By using a natural disaster model, one can infer that the epigenetic effects found in Project Ice Storm are due to objective levels of hardship experienced by the pregnant woman rather than to her level of sustained distress. |
| Keyword(s): | DNA methylation, emotional state in pregnancy, epigenetics, prenatal stress |
| Discussion: | No discussion mentioned for this entry |
| See Also: | No related entries mentioned for this entry |
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