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Prenatal exposure to maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and white matter microstructure in children
Author(s) -
El Marroun Hanan,
Zou Runyu,
Muetzel Ryan L.,
Jaddoe Vincent W.,
Verhulst Frank C.,
White Tonya,
Tiemeier Henning
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
depression and anxiety
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.634
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6394
pISSN - 1091-4269
DOI - 10.1002/da.22722
Subject(s) - uncinate fasciculus , fractional anisotropy , white matter , cingulum (brain) , psychology , diffusion mri , offspring , depression (economics) , pregnancy , medicine , pediatrics , genetics , magnetic resonance imaging , macroeconomics , biology , economics , radiology
Background Prenatal maternal depression has been associated with multiple problems in offspring involving affect, cognition, and neuroendocrine functioning. This suggests that prenatal depression influences neurodevelopment. However, the underlying neurodevelopmental mechanism remains unclear. We prospectively assessed whether maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy and at the child's age 3 years are related to white matter microstructure in 690 children. The association of paternal depressive symptoms with childhood white matter microstructure was assessed to evaluate genetic or familial confounding. Methods Parental depressive symptoms were measured using the Brief Symptom Inventory. In children aged 6–9 years, we used diffusion tensor imaging to assess white matter microstructure characteristics including fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD). Results Exposure to maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy was associated with higher MD in the uncinate fasciculus and to lower FA and higher MD in the cingulum bundle. No associations of maternal depressive symptoms at the child's age of 3 years with white matter characteristics were observed. Paternal depressive symptoms also showed a trend toward significance for a lower FA in the cingulum bundle. Conclusions Prenatal maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher MD in the uncinate fasciculus and the cingulum bundle. These structures are part of the limbic system, which is involved in motivation, emotion, learning, and memory. As paternal depressive symptoms were also related to lower FA in the cingulum, the observed effect may partly reflect a genetic predisposition and shared environmental family factors and to a lesser extent a specific intrauterine effect.