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Gestational Timing of Prenatal Disturbance and Fetal Sex Determine the Developmental Outcomes

Background: Maternal stress during pregnancy can have deleterious consequences, increasing risk for prematurity and low birth weight, as well as postnatal effects on emotional regulation and neuromotor development. It is less clear, however, whether moderate and brief gestational disturbances have similar effects. Objective: To determine the impact of a delimited period of moderate maternal stress on infant growth, emotional reactivity, and neurobehavioral maturity in a nonhuman primate model. Methods: Eighty-three infant rhesus monkeys were generated from disturbed pregnancies, either early or late gestation, and compared with 51 undisturbed infants. Maternal stress was induced with an acoustical startle protocol for 25% of gestation. Infant weights, anthropometrics, and neurobehavioral data were obtained. Analyses focused on differential effects of prenatal stress on male and female infants. Results: The disturbance manipulation elevated cortisol levels acutely in the gravid females and they gained less weight by term. Nevertheless, female infants from the early stress condition were significantly larger at birth. This differential growth trajectory was then sustained through 6 months of age. Infants from stress conditions were more emotionally reactive and evinced immature neuromotor reflexes, especially when gestated by late stress mothers. Conclusions: Even moderate maternal disturbance impacted infant temperament and neuromotor development in this nonhuman primate model. Effects on fetal and infant growth differed from typical reports of growth inhibition, both in other animal species and human studies. The findings convey the importance of considering the duration and severity of prenatal insults, and the potential for fetal plasticity and recovery, permitting compensatory growth responses.