Impact of depression and stress on placental DNA methylation in ethnically diverse pregnant women.

Aim: To investigate the association between placental genome-wide methylation at birth and antenatal depression and stress during pregnancy.

Methods

We examined the association between placental genome-wide DNA methylation (n = 301) and maternal depression and stress assessed at six gestation periods during pregnancy. Correlation between DNA methylation at the significantly associated CpGs and expression of nearby genes in the placenta was tested.

Results

Depression and stress were associated with methylation of 16 CpGs and two CpGs, respectively, at a 5% false discovery rate. Methylation levels at two of the CpGs associated with depression were significantly associated with expression of ADAM23 and CTDP1, genes implicated in neurodevelopment and neuropsychiatric diseases.

Conclusion

Placental epigenetic changes linked to antenatal depression suggest potential fetal brain programming. Clinical trial registration number: NCT00912132 (ClinicalTrials.gov).