Perinatal Psychoneuroimmunology of Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on Fetal and Postnatal Brain Development

Martin G Frasch; Colin Wakefield; Ben Janoschek; Yael S Frank; Floyd Karp; Nicholas Reyes; Andre Desrochers; Mary C Wallingford; Marta C Antonelli; Gerlinde A S Metz

doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-4200-9_16

Perinatal Psychoneuroimmunology of Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on Fetal and Postnatal Brain Development

Methods Mol Biol. 2025:2868:303-332. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4200-9_16.

Authors

Martin G Frasch¹, Colin Wakefield^#², Ben Janoschek^#², Yael S Frank^#², Floyd Karp³, Nicholas Reyes⁴, Andre Desrochers⁵, Mary C Wallingford^{6

7}, Marta C Antonelli^{8

9}, Gerlinde A S Metz¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Institute on Human Development and Disability, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. mfrasch@uw.edu.
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Institute on Human Development and Disability, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
³ Departments of Pharmacy and Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁴ Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁵ Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada.
⁶ Mother Infant Research Institute, Molecular Cardiology Research Institute, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Klinikum Rechts Der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
⁹ Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo De Robertis", Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹⁰ Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 39546237
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4200-9_16

Abstract

Prenatal stress (PS) impacts early behavioral, neuroimmune, and cognitive development. Pregnant rat models have been very valuable in examining the mechanisms of such fetal programming. A pregnant sheep model of maternal stress offers the unique advantages of chronic in utero monitoring and manipulation. This chapter presents the techniques used to model single and multigenerational stress exposures and their pleiotropic effects on the offspring.

Keywords: Animal models; DOHaD; Generations; Multi-hit; Placenta; Pregnancy; Rat; Sheep; Stress; Telemetry.

MeSH terms

Animals
Brain* / growth & development
Disease Models, Animal
Female
Fetal Development
Fetus / immunology
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects* / immunology
Psychoneuroimmunology* / methods
Sheep
Stress, Psychological* / immunology