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Depression during pregnancy and the baby's DNA

27/4/2015

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Over recent years there has been much interest in the effects that mum’s depression during pregnancy can have on the baby’s development.  It’s not yet clear why some children might be affected, and others not. There is also still much to learn about how any effects might work, but it is becoming evident that the field of epigenetics is of particular importance. Epigenetics means ‘on top’ of genetics, and epigenetic changes are modifications to DNA without any alteration in the underlying DNA sequence. Such epigenetic changes determine whether a gene is turned on or off, or how active the gene is.  

Every cell in the human body contains the same DNA sequence, but different genes are turned on or off to make different tissues such as muscle, skin, liver or brain. Amazingly, factors in the environment can also cause epigenetic changes, and this can lead to differences in individual characteristics.

Of interest in our field of research is that very early environmental influences can lead to long lasting epigenetic changes. Initial evidence for this came from the study of rodents and how they care for their young pups. Rats that did not lick their pups a lot when they were young (akin to unsupportive and insensitive caregiving in humans) showed increased anxiety and exaggerated stress responses in adulthood. These were due to epigenetic changes within the brains of the offspring, specifically at the receptor for the main stress hormone, cortisol. Similar epigenetic changes have been found in the brains of rats whose mothers were stressed during pregnancy.

From human studies we know that extreme stress may alter the epigenetic regulation of DNA in a child’s brain, also at the receptor for the stress hormone cortisol. Further, exposure to mums stress during pregnancy, caused by inter-partner violence and depression, may also alter the epigenetic regulation of this receptor.

So existing research suggests that epigenetic changes may be one way in which mum’s depression during pregnancy influences the baby’s development.

A recent study from our group has extended these findings. We found that specifically boys, but not girls, who were exposed to mum’s depression during pregnancy, had epigenetic changes at the cortisol receptor. This fits in well with an existing body of research, which suggests that male infants may be more susceptible to the adverse outcomes associated with antenatal depression exposure than female infants.

We also looked at the epigenetic profile of another gene that is related to brain development, and also found that this was changed in those infants of mothers who were depressed during pregnancy. This is a very novel and exciting finding that we will pursue further in future studies.

Interestingly, there was no effect if the mum had depression during the postnatal period on the baby’s epigenetics, which suggests that these changes occur before birth.  We don’t yet know exactly how these epigenetic changes may affect the development of the child – there is a lot still to learn, but we at least have some pointers towards the functioning of two key genes.

You can read our full paper about the study discussed in this blog here.
Author: Elizabeth Braithwaite
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‘Learning from Parents as Partners: a relational approach to family and system change’ conference: March 2015

7/4/2015

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PictureProfessors Carolyn and Philip Cowan
The Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships held a conference this March presenting the progress of their Parents as Partners programme. The day focused on how the quality of the co-parenting relationship can have a profound impact on the functioning of the family unit, including the wellbeing of parents and children. 

Parents as Partners is a preventative intervention, based on the work of the Professors Carolyn and Philip Cowan, who stress the importance of addressing the couple relationship within interventions designed to optimise outcomes for children’s wellbeing. The central aim of the programme is to improve the quality of the parental couple relationship and therefore in turn improve the quality of parenting. A unique feature of Parents as Partners that sets it apart from other interventions, is it requires the involvement of both parents to commit and engage in exploring how their relationship affects their children. Parents work on their relationship, how they interact, the family dynamic and work on their parenting skills within the group sessions. 

The strong collaboration between the programmes creators and facilitators in all aspects of the programme was evident. It was also clear that great importance had been placed on making the programme practical and transferable to the real family environment. The interactive presentation from the group co-facilitators provided a chance to experience aspects of the group sessions and gave a sense of what the intervention is like for couples involved. 

A highlight of the day were talks given by Professors Carolyn and Philip Cowan the developers of Parents as Partners, who gave an overview of how the programme was conceived. They discussed the perhaps universal challenges couples face in the transition to becoming parents and the importance of bringing parents together during this time; recalling from personal experience they described noticing that there was very little support for parents during this time in their lives.

As well as speakers from the Tavistock Centre, there were also talks by other key representatives in the area of early intervention and parent and child mental health. Donna Molloy from the Early Intervention Foundation provided an interesting talk on the importance of supporting the use of evidence-based early interventions to tackle social problems and improve children’s life chances. It was encouraging to see that the organisation are helping commissioners to select and implement the most effective interventions available.

Another central focus of the day was the emphasis on engaging fathers in interventions, something which is an essential component of the Parents as Partners programme. Members of the Health Start, Happy Start team attended a workshop dedicated to discussing how the programme works to positively involve fathers, by conducting the programme sessions in an environment that actively welcomes fathers’ participation. Also, the programme strictly follows the use of a male-female co-facilitator pair to run group sessions, which they believe to be a powerful tool in engaging fathers as well as mothers.

Overall it was an interesting and enjoyable day, and provided the team with some key learning points with regards to promoting the engagement of fathers within interventions, which will be helpful as we commence the Healthy Start, Happy Start programme.


Author: Charlotte Phillips
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