Prenatal maternal stress alters placental serotonin system in a foetal sex dependent manner

Joey St-Pierre (1, 2) , David P Laplante (3) , Guillaume Elgbeili (3) , Suzanne King (4, 3) , Cathy Vaillancourt (1, 2)

1 INRS-IAF - Institut Armand Frappier
2 BioMed Research Centre [Montréal]
3 Douglas Institute of Research
4 McGill University = Université McGill [Montréal, Canada]

Prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) is associated with children neurodevelopmental disorders. Serotonin is a crucial hormone, produced and transported by the placenta, for fetal brain development. Stress is known to affect serotonin reuptake by the serotonin transporter (SERT). Placental type 2 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD2) protects the fetus by converting cortisol into inactive cortisone. Excess cortisol such as in PNMS is linked with serotonin-related pathological conditions (e.g. preeclampsia, autism), but the effect of PNMS on the placental serotonin systemhas never been studied.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Joey St-Pierre, David P Laplante, Guillaume Elgbeili, Suzanne King, Cathy Vaillancourt. Prenatal maternal stress alters placental serotonin system in a foetal sex dependent manner. Placenta, 2015, 36 (9), pp.A9. ⟨10.1016/j.placenta.2015.07.213⟩. ⟨pasteur-01351712⟩