Inflammation: A Proposed Intermediary Between Maternal Stress and Offspring Neuropsychiatric Risk

During pregnancy, programming of the fetal central nervous system (CNS) establishes vulnerabilities for emergence of neuropsychiatric phenotypes later in life. Psychosocial influences during pregnancy, such as stressful life events or chronic stress, correlate with offspring neuropsychiatric disorders and with inflammation, respectively. Stress promotes inflammation, but the role of inflammation as a mediator between maternal psychosocial stress and offspring neuropsychiatric outcomes has not been extensively studied in humans.
Source: Biological Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research