Researchers of a new study found that adults deprived of certain hormones while in the womb were more vulnerable to anxiety and poor mental health.
What a woman does, what she eats and the state of her health is very important during pregnancy as it directly impacts her baby. In a new study, researchers from Cardiff University found that adults who were deprived of certain hormones while in the womb were more vulnerable to anxiety and poor mental health.
"The growth of a baby is a very complex process and there are lots of control mechanisms which make sure that the nutrients required by the baby to grow can be supplied by the mother," according to Professor Lawrence Wilkinson, a behavioral neuroscientist from Cardiff University's School of Psychology, who led the research.
The study was conducted to determine the role of placenta in long-term programming of emotional behavior. Researchers, for the first time, were able to find a link between changes in adult behavior to alterations in placental function.
In a study, researchers examined the behavior of adult mice with a malfunctioned supply of a vital hormone.
"We achieved this by damaging a hormone called Insulin-like growth factor-2, important for controlling growth in the womb. What we found when we did this was an imbalance in the supply of nutrients controlled by the placenta, and that this imbalance had major effects on how subjects were during adulthood - namely, that subject became more anxious later in life," continued the researcher.
He revealed that these symptoms also showed specific changes in brain gene expression, termed as "placental-programming of adult behavior"
Dr Trevor Humby, Wilkinson's colleague, said that the study is yet to determine whether these very early life events can cause long-range effects on our emotional predispositions and the team plans to conduct further studies on this topic.
