Maternal Anxiety and Depression in Pregnancy and DNA Methylation of the NR3C1 Glucocorticoid Receptor Gene

Abstract

Aim: To quantify associations of anxiety and depression during pregnancy with differential cord blood DNA methylation of the glucorticoid receptor (NR3C1). Materials & methods: Pregnancy anxiety, trait anxiety and depressive symptoms were collected using the Pregnancy Related Anxiety Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Index and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, respectively. NR3C1 methylation was determined at four methylation sites. Results: DNA methylation of CpG1 in the NR3C1 CpG island shore was higher in infants born to women with high pregnancy anxiety (β 2.54, 95% CI: 0.49–4.58) and trait anxiety (β 1.68, 95% CI: 0.14–3.22). No significant association was found between depressive symptoms and NR3C1 methylation. Conclusion: We found that maternal anxiety was associated with increased NR3C1 CpG island shore methylation.

Keywords::

• cord blood
• developmental epigenetics
• DNA methylation
• epigenetics
• glucocorticoid receptor
• maternal anxiety
• maternal depression
• NR3C1
• pregnancy

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.2217/epi-2020-0022

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the SPEC study staff and the participants for their contributions to this work.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors would like to acknowledge the Charles H Hood Foundation, National Institutes of Health/K23ES022242 and Harvard Catalyst, The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health Award UL 1TR002541). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the Charles H Hood Foundation, National Institutes of Health/K23ES022242 and Harvard Catalyst, The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health Award UL 1TR002541). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.