Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy are associated with amygdala hyperresponsivity in children
Open accessAbstract
Depression during pregnancy is highly prevalent and has a multitude of potential risks of the offspring. Among confirmed consequences is a higher risk of psychopathology. However, it is unknown how maternal depression may impact the child's brain to mediate this vulnerability. Here we studied amygdala functioning, using task-based functional MRI, in children aged 6-9 years as a function of prenatal maternal depressive symptoms selected from a prospective population-based sample (The Generation R Study). We show that children exposed to clinically relevant maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy (N = 19) have increased amygdala responses to negative emotional faces compared to control children (N = 20) [F(1,36) 7.02, p = 0.022]. Strikingly, postnatal maternal depressive symptoms, obtained at 3 years after birth, did not explain this relation. Our findings are in line with a model in which prenatal depressive symptoms of the mother are associated with amygdala hyperresponsivity in her offspring, which may represent a risk factor for later-life psychopathology.
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Exposure to maternal depression in utero is linked to amygdala hyperresponsivity during childhood.
“In another study, exposure to maternal depression in utero is linked to amygdala hyperresponsivity during childhood [116].”
From Brain structural and functional outcomes in the offspring of women experiencing psychological distress during pregnancy (2024) · cites this paper as [116]
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Prenatal stress: Effects on fetal and child brain development
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- Authors
- van der Knaap, N. J. F., Klumpers, F., El Marroun, H., Mous, S., Schubert, D., Jaddoe, V., Hofman, A., Homberg, J. R., Tiemeier, H., White, T., & Fernández, G.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
- ORCID
- Venue
- European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Published
- 2017-06-30
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 57-64
- ISSN
- 1018-8827 (ISSN-L)
- 1435-165X
- PMC
- PMC5799325
- OpenAlex
- W2731210387
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 3.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Sophia Children’s Hospital Fund (SSWO-616)
- NWO Brain and Cognition grant (433-09-311)
- European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (No.: 633595, DynaHealth)
- Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development; ZonMW (Geestkracht Program 10.000.1003, ZonMw TOP 40-00812-98-11021)
- European Community's 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2008-2013, 212652)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects
- Keywords
- maternal depression, antenatal depression, children, emotional face processing, offspring psychopathology, Generation R Study, prenatal stress
- MeSH terms
- Amygdala, Child, Depression, Emotions, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Mothers, Pregnancy, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors
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