WOMEN - Stress BEFORE pregnancy triggers genetic changes in a woman's eggs that will turn their future child into a worrier, claims study

Stress BEFORE pregnancy triggers genetic changes in a woman's eggs that will turn their future child into a worrier, claims study

• Stress before conception can cause changes to a woman's eggs
• These changes can lead to genetic differences in her future children
• Even stress during the woman's teens can affect her future offspring

By EMMA INNES

PUBLISHED: 15:56 GMT, 31 January 2014 | UPDATED: 15:58 GMT, 31 January 2014

 
 
 

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A woman's levels of stress even before conception can influence her child's ability to deal with stressful situations

All women know that their lifestyle during pregnancy can have important effects on their child’s future health.

Now research suggests that a woman’s levels of stress even before conception can influence her child’s ability to deal with stressful situations.

Research has shown that stress before conception can cause genetic changes to children because it can cause changes in the mother-to-be’s eggs.

The research, conducted by the University of Haifa, in Israel, was carried out on rats but scientists believe the conclusions can be applied to humans.

Researcher Hiba Zaidan said: ‘The systemic similarity in many instances between us and rats raises questions about the transgenerational influences in humans as well.

‘If until now we saw evidence only of behavioural effects, now we’ve found proof of effects at the genetic level.’

Previous research had shown that exposing rats to stress before they had conceived, and even at their ‘teenage’ stage, influenced the behaviour of their offspring. 

This study sought to examine whether there was an influence on the offspring’s genes.

For the research, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, the researchers focused on the gene known as CRF-1, a gene linked to the body’s stress system and which expresses itself in many places in the brain when it is under stress.

The researchers took female rats that were 45 days old, which is parallel to human adolescence. 

Some of the rats were exposed to ‘minor’ stress, which included changes in temperature and daily routine for seven days, and compared them to a control group that was not exposed to stress at all.

 

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The rats were mated and conceived two weeks later.

In the first part of the study, the researchers examined the ova of the rats that were exposed to stress even before they conceived, and they found that at that stage there was enhanced expression of the CRF-1 gene. 

For the second part, the researchers examined the brains of new born rats immediately after birth, before the mother could have any influence on them, and found that even at this stage, there was enhanced expression of the CRF-1 gene in the brains of the rats born to mothers who had been exposed to stress.

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Research has shown that stress before conception can cause genetic changes to children because it can cause changes in the mother-to-be's eggs

During the third stage, the researchers exposed the offspring, both those whose mothers had been exposed to stress and those whose mothers were not, to stress when they reached adulthood. 

It emerged that the expression of CRF-1 among the offspring was dependent on three factors, the sex of the offspring, the stress undergone by the mother and the stress to which the offspring were exposed. 

The female rats whose mothers had been exposed to stress and who themselves underwent a ‘stressful’ behavioural test showed higher levels of CRF-1 than other groups.

Ms Zaidan added: ‘This is the first time that we showed that the genetic response to stress in rats is linked to the experiences their mothers underwent long before they even got pregnant with them. 

‘We are learning more and more about intergenerational genetic transfer and in light of the findings, and in light of the fact that in today’s reality many women are exposed to stress even before they get pregnant, it’s important to research the degree to which such phenomenon take place in humans.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2549573/Stress-BEFORE-pregnancy-triggers-genetic-changes-womans-eggs-turn-future-child-worrier-claims-study.html#ixzz2s0dYKQ7D
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