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arXiv · 2105.12809

Prenatal stress perturbs fetal iron homeostasis in a sex-specific manner

Peter Zimmermann·Marta C. Antonelli·Ritika Sharma·Alexander Müller·Camilla Zelgert·Bibiana Fabre·Natasha Wenzel·Hau-Tieng Wu·Martin G. Frasch·Silvia M. Lobmaier
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Abstract

What is the influence of chronic maternal prenatal stress (PS) on fetal iron homeostasis? In a prospective case-control study in 164 pregnant women, we show that cord blood transferrin saturation is lower in male stressed neonates. The total effect of PS exposure on fetal ferritin revealed a decrease of 15.4% compared with controls. Electrocardiogram-based Fetal Stress Index (FSI) identified affected fetuses non-invasively during the third trimester of gestation. FSI-based timely detection of fetuses affected by PS can support early individualized iron supplementation and neurodevelopmental follow-up to prevent long-term sequelae due to PS-exacerbated impairment of the iron homeostasis.

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Peter Zimmermann, Marta C. Antonelli, Ritika Sharma, Alexander Müller, Camilla Zelgert, Bibiana Fabre, Natasha Wenzel, Hau-Tieng Wu, Martin G. Frasch, Silvia M. Lobmaier. 2021-05-26. Prenatal stress perturbs fetal iron homeostasis in a sex-specific manner. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13633-z

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