In utero exposure to glucocorticoids and risk of anxiety and depression in childhood or adolescence

The longitudinal relationship between prenatal maternal cortisol and preschool internalising problems

INTRO

Prenatal exposure to synthetic glucocorticoids may increase the risk of emotional symptoms in childhood partly by reducing fetal growth. We explored if physiological levels of prenatal maternal cortisol were associated with internalising problems in boys and girls and if this was mediated by birth weight.

METHODS

Mother-child dyads from the prospective Odense Child Cohort (n=1162) were included if maternal serum cortisol (3rd trimester), offspring birth weight, and Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) assessments in preschool age were available. Crude and adjusted associations between cortisol and internalising problems were determined in linear mixed models stratified by offspring sex. Covariates included parental psychiatric history, parity, maternal age, education, smoking during pregnancy, and gestational age at birth. In the presence of significant associations, we evaluated the potential mediating role of birth weight.

RESULTS

The study sample included 601 boys and 561 girls and internalising problems were assessed at mean ages 2.3 (±0.4) and 5 (±0.5) years. In the crude analysis, cortisol was positively associated with internalising problems in boys (p-value 0.017) and in girls (p-value < 0.0001). In the adjusted analyses, there was no statistically significant association between cortisol and offspring internalising problems in boys or girls (all p-values > 0.15). There was no mediation by birth weight.

DISCUSSION

Maternal serum cortisol was positively associated with offspring internalising problems in boys and girls, but there was no association following adjustment for potential confounders and no mediation through birth weight. Maternal third-trimester cortisol levels do not predict preschool offspring internalising problems in our study.

Dissecting the networks underlying diverse brain disorders after prenatal glucocorticoid overexposure

New human life begins in the uterus in a period of both extreme plasticity and sensitivity to environmental disturbances. The fetal stage is also a vital period for central nervous system development, with experiences at this point profoundly and permanently shaping brain structure and function. As such, some brain disorders may originate in utero. Glucocorticoids, a class of essential stress hormones, play indispensable roles in fetal development, but overexposure may have lasting impacts on the brain. In this review, we summarize data from recent clinical and non-clinical studies regarding alterations in fetal brains due to prenatal glucocorticoid overexposure that are associated with nervous system disorders. We discuss relevant changes to brain structure and cellular functions and explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. In addition, we summarize factors that may cause differential outcomes between varying brain regions, and outline clinically feasible intervention strategies that are expected to minimize negative consequences arising from fetal glucocorticoid overexposure. Finally, we highlight the need for experimental evidence aided by new technologies to clearly determine the effects of excessive prenatal glucocorticoid exposure. This review consolidates diverse findings to help researchers better understand the relationship between the prenatal glucocorticoid overexposure and the effects it has on various fetal brain regions, promoting further development of critical intervention strategies.

Prenatal Hypoxia Triggers a Glucocorticoid-Associated Depressive-like Phenotype in Adult Rats, Accompanied by Reduced Anxiety in Response to Stress

Fetal hypoxia and maternal stress frequently culminate in neuropsychiatric afflictions in life. To replicate this condition, we employed a model of prenatal severe hypoxia (PSH) during days 14-16 of rat gestation. Subsequently, both control and PSH rats at 3 months old were subjected to episodes of inescapable stress to induce learned helplessness (LH). The results of the open field test revealed an inclination towards depressive-like behavior in PSH rats. Following LH episodes, control (but not PSH) rats displayed significant anxiety. LH induced an increase in glucocorticoid receptor (GR) levels in extrahypothalamic brain structures, with enhanced nuclear translocation in the hippocampus (HPC) observed both in control and PSH rats. However, only control rats showed an increase in GR nuclear translocation in the amygdala (AMG). The decreased GR levels in the HPC of PSH rats correlated with elevated levels of hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) compared with the controls. However, LH resulted in a reduction of the CRH levels in PSH rats, aligning them with those of control rats, without affecting the latter. This study presents evidence that PSH leads to depressive-like behavior in rats, associated with alterations in the glucocorticoid system. Notably, these impairments also contribute to increased resistance to severe stressors.

Causal effect of systemic lupus erythematosus on psychiatric disorders: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study

BACKGROUND

This study aims to investigate the association between systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the risk of seven psychiatric disorders through the application of Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis due to previous observational studies that have suggested a potential link between SLE and psychiatric disorders.

METHODS

We collected genetic instruments for SLE from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 23,210 individuals. Seven psychiatric traits were enrolled from the recent largest GWAS, including major depression disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BID), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and insomnia. Summary statistics for psychiatric disorders were obtained from different GWAS meta-analysis studies. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the main MR analysis.

RESULTS

The IVW method indicated that SLE is associated with a higher risk of GAD (OR = 1.072, 95 % CI [1.017-1.129], P = 0.008) and SCZ (OR = 3.242, 95 % CI [1.578-6.660], P = 0.007). However, no evidence was found for the causal associations between SLE and other psychiatric disorders. Further analyses found no evidence of pleiotropy and heterogeneity.

CONCLUSIONS

This two-sample MR analysis provides evidence that genetically predicted SLE may increase the risk of GAD and SCZ in a European population. Future studies are needed to elucidate and investigate the mechanisms underlying these causal relationships. Considering the existence of racial genomic heterogeneity, our findings must be viewed with caution.

Mitochondria in depression: The dysfunction of mitochondrial energy metabolism and quality control systems

BACKGROUND

Depression is the most disabling neuropsychiatric disorder, causing difficulties in daily life activities and social interactions. The exact mechanisms of depression remain largely unclear. However, some studies have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction would play a crucial role in the occurrence and development of depression.

AIMS

To summarize the known knowledge about the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of depression.

METHODS

We review the recent literature， including 105 articles, to summarize the mitochondrial energy metabolism and quality control systems in the occurrence and development of depression. Some antidepressants which may exert their effects by improving mitochondrial function are also discussed.

RESULTS

Impaired brain energy metabolism and (or) damaged mitochondrial quality control systems have been reported not only in depression patients but in animal models of depression. Although the classical antidepressants have not been specially designed to target mitochondria, the evidence suggests that many antidepressants may exert their effects by improving mitochondrial function.

CONCLUSIONS

This brief review focuses on the findings that implicate mitochondrial dysfunction and the quality control systems as important etiological factors in the context of depressive disorders. It will help us to understand the various concepts of mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of depression, and to explore novel and more targeted therapeutic approaches for depression.

Long-term environmental enrichment overcomes depression, learning, and memory impairment in elderly CD-1 mice with maternal sleep deprivation exposure

Early-life stress disrupts central nervous system development and increases the risk of neuropsychiatric disorder in offspring based on rodent studies. Maternal sleep deprivation (MSD) in rodents has also been associated with depression and cognitive decline in adult offspring. However, it is not known whether these issues persist into old age. Environmental enrichment is a non-pharmacological intervention with proven benefits in improving depression and cognitive impairment; however, it is unclear whether these benefits hold for aging mice following MSD exposure. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of MSD on depression and cognition in elderly offspring CD-1 mice and to determine whether long-term environmental enrichment could alleviate these effects by improving neuroinflammation and synaptic plasticity. The offspring mice subjected to MSD were randomly assigned to either a standard environment or an enriched environment. At 18 months of age, the forced swimming and tail suspension tests were used to evaluated depression-like behaviors, and the Morris water maze test was used to evaluate cognitive function. The expression levels of hippocampal proinflammatory cytokines and synaptic plasticity-associated proteins were also measured. MSD increased depression-like behaviors and impaired cognition function in aging CD-1 offspring mice. These effects were accompanied by upregulated interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α expression, and downregulated brain-derived neurotrophic factor, tyrosine kinase receptor B, postsynaptic density-95, and synaptophysin expression in the hippocampus. All of these changes were reversed by long-term exposure to an enriched environment. These findings suggest that MSD exerts long-term effects on the behaviors of offspring in mice, leading to depression and cognitive impairment in older age. Importantly, long-term environmental enrichment could counteract the behavior difficulties induced by MSD through improving hippocampal proinflammatory cytokines and synaptic plasticity-associated proteins.