Children of mothers who suffer from stress during pregnancy are at risk of developing asthma, a new research suggests.
Harvard School of Public researchers did a study on pregnant mice and found that stress during pregnancy leads to developmental and behavioral problems.
The team explained that glucocorticoids (GCs) - a naturally occurring stress hormone - helps reduce inflammation. But, the same GCs can cause inflammation and increase allergic responses to irritants like air pollution or pollen. The levels of GC are elevated during pregnancy, which can lead to stress and in turn cause harmful allergic responses, researchers explained in a press release. Synthetic versions of this hormone are prednisone, dexamethasone and hydrocortisone and are mostly used to treat allergic reactions
For the study, researchers Robert Lim, Alexey V. Fedulov and Lester Kobzik, concentrated on the rise in GC due to maternal stress during pregnancy and if it led to the development of asthma in the children.
One group of pregnant mice was exposed to single bout of stress and the second set of mice to dexamethasone so as to mirror the effects of stressful occurrence. The third mice group was given enough metyropone, which is a steroid inhibitor that controls the stress hormone release, to offset the rise in stress hormone and the fourth set of mice was the control group.
The study results showed that high levels of stress hormone in the mother can go pass through the placenta and increase fetal levels of CORT. This results in greater risk of asthma and allergies. The offspring of all mice were exposed to allergens after birth.
"Only the offspring of stressed mothers demonstrated increased asthma susceptibility compared with nonstressed mothers. We also demonstrated that a single episode of stress significantly elevated maternal stress hormone levels. These results indicate that maternal stress can play a role in the initiation of asthma by increasing asthma susceptibility in offspring," researchers stated.
The research was published in the AJP: Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology.
