TY  - JOUR
A1  - Send, Tabea
A1  - Bardtke, S.
A1  - Gilles, M.
A1  - Wolf, I. A. C.
A1  - Sütterlin, Marc Wolf
A1  - Wudy, S. A.
A1  - Wang, R.
A1  - Laucht, Manfred
A1  - Witt, Stephanie H.
A1  - Rietschel, Marcella
A1  - Streit, Fabian
A1  - Deuschle, Michael
T1  - Prenatal maternal stress is associated with lower cortisol and cortisone levels in the first morning urine of 45-month-old children
JF  - Psychoneuroendocrinology
N2  - Prenatal stress (PS) has been related to altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity later in life. So far, studies in children assessing HPA axis functioning have focused on salivary cortisol, reflecting daytime activity. The present work is part of a prospective study and aims to extend knowledge about the association between PS and HPA axis regulation in children. To do so, we investigated cortisol, cortisone, and the ratio cortisone/(cortisone + cortisol) in the first morning urine of 45-month-old children in relation to several measures of maternal stress during pregnancy. Urinary cortisol and cortisone were measured by online turbulent flow chromatography coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. PS was defined as: perceived stress for aim 1 (Perceived Stress Scale; n = 280); presence of self-reported (n = 371) and expert-rated psychopathology for aim 2 (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview; n = 281); continuous measures of anxiety and depression for exploratory aim 3 (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; n = 280). The ratio cortisone/(cortisone + cortisol) as a global marker for the balance between the enzymes metabolizing cortisol to cortisone and vice versa (11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases type 1 and 2; 11 beta-HSD1 and 2) was not associated with any measure of maternal PS (aims 1-3). The present study provides insight into possible programming effects of PS on nocturnal HPA axis activity and a proxy of 11 beta-HSD in a large sample. The results suggest that the nocturnal rate of cortisol production is lower in children exposed to PS, but do not support the hypothesis of divergent 11 beta-HSD activity.
KW  - Prenatal stress
KW  - Cortisol
KW  - Cortisone
KW  - HPA axis
KW  - Perceived stress
KW  - Psychopathology
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.01.017
SN  - 0306-4530
VL  - 103
SP  - 219
EP  - 224
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schmid, Brigitte
A1  - Buchmann, Arlette F.
A1  - Trautmann-Villalba, Patricia
A1  - Blomeyer, Dorothea
A1  - Zimmermann, Ulrich S.
A1  - Schmidt, Martin H.
A1  - Esser, Günter
A1  - Banaschewski, Tobias
A1  - Laucht, Manfred
T1  - Maternal stimulation in infancy predicts hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity in young men
JF  - Journal of neural transmission
N2  - Evidence from animal research has demonstrated the effect of early maternal care on the offspring's endocrine and behavioral stress response in adulthood. The present prospective study investigates, in humans, the long-term impact of maternal responsiveness and stimulation during early mother-child interaction on adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol response to a psychosocial laboratory stressor in adulthood. The data are from an epidemiological cohort study of the long-term outcome of early risk factors assessed at birth. At age 3 months, mothers and infants were videotaped during a 10-min standardized nursing and playing situation and evaluated by trained raters for maternal stimulation and infant and maternal responsiveness. At age 19 years, 270 participants (146 females, 124 males) completed the Trier Social Stress Test. The results indicated that less maternal stimulation during early interaction at age 3 months predicted diminished plasma ACTH and cortisol increase in response to acute psychosocial stress in male, but not female offspring. In contrast, maternal responsiveness was found to be unrelated to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) reactivity. In accordance with the findings from animal research, the present study provides prospective evidence in humans of a long-term association between early maternal interaction behavior and the offspring's hormonal stress response in young adulthood, suggesting that poor maternal stimulation in early infancy may result in reduced HPA axis reactivity to an acute psychosocial stressor in males.
KW  - ACTH
KW  - Cortisol
KW  - HPA axis
KW  - Mother-infant interaction
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-013-0970-8
SN  - 0300-9564
VL  - 120
IS  - 8
SP  - 1247
EP  - 1257
PB  - Springer
CY  - Wien
ER  -