Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2013 Feb;208(2):134.e1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2012.11.033. Epub 2012 Nov 27.
In adults, one of the major determinants of leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a predictor of age-related diseases and mortality, is cumulative psychosocial stress exposure. More recently we reported that exposure to maternal psychosocial stress during intrauterine life is associated with LTL in young adulthood. The objective of the present study was to determine how early in life this effect of stress on LTL is apparent by quantifying the association of maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy with newborn telomere length.
In a prospective study of N = 27 mother-newborn dyads maternal pregnancy-specific stress was assessed in early gestation and cord blood peripheral blood mononuclear cells were subsequently collected and analyzed for LTL measurement.
After accounting for the effects of potential determinants of newborn LTL (gestational age at birth, weight, sex, and exposure to antepartum obstetric complications), there was a significant, independent, linear effect of pregnancy-specific stress on newborn LTL that accounted for 25% of the variance in adjusted LTL (β = -0.099; P = .04).
Our finding provides the first preliminary evidence in human beings that maternal psychological stress during pregnancy may exert a "programming" effect on the developing telomere biology system that is already apparent at birth, as reflected by the setting of newborn LTL.
在成年人中，白细胞端粒长度（LTL）的一个主要决定因素是累积的心理社会压力暴露，LTL 可预测与年龄相关的疾病和死亡率。最近，我们报告称，子宫内生活中母亲的心理社会压力暴露与年轻人的 LTL 有关。本研究的目的是通过量化妊娠期间母亲心理社会压力与新生儿端粒长度之间的关系，确定这种应激对 LTL 的影响在生命早期的明显程度。
在一项前瞻性研究中，我们对 N=27 对母婴对进行了研究，在妊娠早期评估了母亲的妊娠特异性压力，并随后收集了脐带血外周血单核细胞，用于 LTL 测量。
在考虑了新生儿 LTL 的潜在决定因素（出生时的胎龄、体重、性别和产前产科并发症的暴露）后，妊娠特异性压力对新生儿 LTL 有显著的、独立的线性影响，占调整后 LTL 方差的 25%（β=-0.099；P=0.04）。
我们的发现为人类提供了初步证据，表明妊娠期间母亲的心理压力可能对正在发育的端粒生物学系统产生“编程”效应，这在新生儿 LTL 的设定中已经很明显。
