Prenatal Maternal Stress From a Natural Disaster and Hippocampal Volumes: Gene-by-Environment Interactions in Young Adolescents From Project Ice Storm

Gene-by-environment interactions influence brain development from conception to adulthood. In particular, the prenatal period is a window of vulnerability for the interplay between environmental and genetic factors to influence brain development. Rodent and human research demonstrates that prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) alters hippocampal volumes. Although PNMS affects hippocampal size on average, similar degrees of PNMS lead to different effects in different individuals. This differential susceptibility to the effects of PNMS may be due to genetic variants. Hence, we investigated the role of genetic variants of two SNPs that are candidates to moderate the effects of PNMS on hippocampal volume: COMT (rs4680) and BDNF (rs6265). To investigate this, we assessed 53 children who were in utero during the January 1998 Quebec ice storm. In June 1998 their mothers responded to questionnaires about their objective, cognitive, and subjective levels of stress from the ice storm. When children were 11 1/2 years old, T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were obtained using a 3T scanner and analyzed to determine hippocampal volumes. We collected and genotyped the children’s saliva DNA. Moderation analyses were conducted to determine whether either or both of the SNPs moderate the effect of PNMS on hippocampal volumes. We found that objective hardship was associated with right hippocampal volume in girls, and that the BDNF and COMT genotypes were associated with left hippocampal volume in boys and girls. In addition, SNPs located on COMT moderated the effect of maternal objective distress in boys, and subjective distress in girls, on both right hippocampal volume. Thus, we conclude that an individual’s genotype alters their susceptibility to the effects of PNMS.

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Prenatal Maternal Stress Predicts Childhood Asthma in Girls: Project Ice Storm

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2014/201717 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Anne-Marie Turcotte-Tremblay ◽

Robert Lim ◽

David P. Laplante ◽

Lester Kobzik ◽

Alain Brunet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Events ◽

Childhood Asthma ◽

Maternal Stress ◽

Small Study ◽

Ice Storm ◽

Prenatal Maternal Stress ◽

Subjective Distress ◽

Immune Functioning ◽

Asthma Symptoms ◽

Asthma Risk

Little is known about how prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) influences risks of asthma in humans. In this small study, we sought to determine whether disaster-related PNMS would predict asthma risk in children. In June 1998, we assessed severity of objective hardship and subjective distress in women pregnant during the January 1998 Quebec Ice Storm. Lifetime asthma symptoms, diagnoses, and corticosteroid utilization were assessed when the children were 12 years old (N=68). No effects of objective hardship or timing of the exposure were found. However, we found that, in girls only, higher levels of prenatal maternal subjective distress predicted greater lifetime risk of wheezing (OR=1.11; 90% CI = 1.01–1.23), doctor-diagnosed asthma (OR=1.09; 90% CI = 1.00–1.19), and lifetime utilization of corticosteroids (OR=1.12; 90% CI = 1.01–1.25). Other perinatal and current maternal life events were also associated with asthma outcomes. Findings suggest that stress during pregnancy opens a window for fetal programming of immune functioning. A sex-based approach may be useful to examine how prenatal and postnatal environments combine to program the immune system. This small study needs to be replicated with a larger, more representative sample.

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Larger Amygdala Volume Mediates the Association Between Prenatal Maternal Stress and Higher Levels of Externalizing Behaviors: Sex Specific Effects in Project Ice Storm

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnhum.2019.00144 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Sherri Lee Jones ◽

Romane Dufoix ◽

David P. Laplante ◽

Guillaume Elgbeili ◽

Raihaan Patel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Externalizing Behaviors ◽

Maternal Stress ◽

Ice Storm ◽

Prenatal Maternal Stress ◽

Specific Effects ◽

Amygdala Volume

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Prenatal maternal stress predicts autism traits in 6½ year-old children: Project Ice Storm

Psychiatry Research ◽

10.1016/j.psychres.2014.04.034 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 219 (2) ◽

pp. 353-360 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

Deborah J. Walder ◽

David P. Laplante ◽

Alexandra Sousa-Pires ◽

Franz Veru ◽

Alain Brunet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Maternal Stress ◽

Ice Storm ◽

Prenatal Maternal Stress ◽

Autism Traits

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Prenatal maternal stress predicts cortisol stress response and child behavior problems at ages 4 and 13: Project Ice Storm

Psychoneuroendocrinology ◽

10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.07.433 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 83 ◽

pp. 72

Author(s):

Suzanne King ◽

Erin Yong Ping ◽

Guillaume Elgbeili ◽

David P. Laplante

Keyword(s):

Stress Response ◽

Behavior Problems ◽

Child Behavior ◽

Maternal Stress ◽

Child Behavior Problems ◽

Ice Storm ◽

Prenatal Maternal Stress

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Prenatal maternal stress from a natural disaster predicts dermatoglyphic asymmetry in humans

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579409000364 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 343-353 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

Suzanne King ◽

Adham Mancini-Marïe ◽

Alain Brunet ◽

Elaine Walker ◽

Michael J. Meaney ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Natural Disaster ◽

Maternal Stress ◽

Significant Negative Correlation ◽

Target Group ◽

Ice Storm ◽

Prenatal Maternal Stress ◽

Lower Stress ◽

The Face ◽

Normal Controls ◽

Objective Stress

AbstractDermatoglyphic asymmetry of fingertip ridge counts is more frequent in schizophrenia patients than normal controls, and may reflect disruptions in fetal development during Weeks 14–22 when fingerprints develop. However, there are no data in humans linking specific adverse events at specific times to dermatoglyphic asymmetries. Our objective was to determine whether prenatal exposure to a natural disaster (1998 Quebec ice storm) during Weeks 14–22 would result in increased dermatoglyphic asymmetry in children, and to determine the roles of maternal objective stress exposure, subjective stress reaction, and postdisaster cortisol. Ridge counts for homologous fingers were scored for 77 children (20 target exposed [Weeks 14–22] and 57 nontarget exposed [exposed during other gestation weeks]). Children in the target group had more than 0.50 SD greater asymmetry than the nontarget group. Within the target group, children whose mothers had high subjective ice storm stress had significantly greater asymmetry than those with lower stress mothers, and maternal postdisaster cortisol had a significant negative correlation with the children's dermatoglyphic asymmetry (r = −.56). Prenatal maternal stress during the period of fingerprint development results in greater dermatoglyphic asymmetry in their children, especially in the face of greater maternal distress.

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Childhood body mass index at 5.5 years mediates the effect of prenatal maternal stress on daughters’ age at menarche: Project Ice Storm

Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease ◽

10.1017/s2040174416000726 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 168-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

A. Duchesne ◽

A. Liu ◽

S. L. Jones ◽

D. P. Laplante ◽

S. King

Keyword(s):

Body Mass Index ◽

Body Mass ◽

Maternal Stress ◽

Pubertal Timing ◽

Self Report ◽

Age At Menarche ◽

Ice Storm ◽

Prenatal Maternal Stress ◽

Prospective Longitudinal ◽

The Impact

Early pubertal timing is known to put women at greater risk for adverse physiological and psychological health outcomes. Of the factors that influence girls’ pubertal timing, stress experienced during childhood has been found to advance age at menarche (AAM). However, it is not known if stress experienced by mothers during or in the months before conception can be similarly associated with earlier pubertal timing. Prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) is associated with metabolic changes, such as increased childhood adiposity and risk of obesity, that have been associated with earlier menarchal age. Using a prospective longitudinal design, the present study tested whether PNMS induced by a natural disaster is either directly associated with earlier AAM, or whether there is an indirect association mediated through increased girls’ body mass index (BMI) during childhood. A total of 31 girls, whose mothers were exposed to the Quebec’s January 1998 ice storm during pregnancy were followed from 6 months to 5 1/2 to 5.5 years of age. Mother’s stress was measured within 6 months of the storm. BMI was measured at 5.5 years, and AAM was assessed through teen’s self-report at 13.5 and 15.5 years of age. Results revealed that greater BMI at 5.5 years mediated the effect of PNMS on decreasing AAM [B=−0.059, 95% confidence intervals (−0.18, −0.0035)]. The present study is the first to demonstrate that maternal experience of stressful conditions during pregnancy reduces AAM in the offspring through its effects on childhood BMI. Future research should consider the impact of AAM on other measures of reproductive ability.

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