The brain and the immune system would react very badly to periods of prolonged stress during pregnancy.
In many cultures, families are advised to keep a pregnant woman in good spirits. This conventional wisdom finally has its scientific basis. The researchers of theOhio State Universityin the United States, discovered that chronic stress during pregnancy triggers an immune response in the brain that makes pregnant women vulnerable to postpartum depression.
Although no human trials have yet been performed, the study is significant because it is the first to record evidence of such a brain reaction after prolonged stress. To study brain biology and postpartum depression, researchers exposed pregnant rats to chronic stress to create symptoms of depression in them. Chronic stress during pregnancy leads to postpartum depression, where the mother experiences extreme sadness, anxiety and exhaustion, depriving her of the energy to care for herself and her infant.
The stress cycle
Stress triggers a vicious cycle. It leads to inflammation causing a defensive immune response against its harmful effects. The researchers believe that immune cells in the brain may have a role to play in this mechanism. In this case, such immune changes may increase the risk of depression. In pregnant rats that were not stressed, the immune system was not affected while stressed rats showed signs of neuroinflammation. The study also demonstrated that the immune response in stressed rats was inactive.
As part of the study, pregnant rats were exposed to stressful and unpredictable situations, which did not cause any physical harm to her or their offspring. However, the researchers found an increase in pro-inflammatory compounds in stressed animals, showing an increase in the number and activity level of microglia, the brain’s primary immune cells, which also affect brain cells. Additionally, stressed and pregnant rats did not show increased levels of dendritic spines or hair-like structures on brain cells that help them communicate with other neurons. Like women with postpartum depression, these rats had less physical interaction with their babies and showed symptoms of depression.
The study’s lead author, Benedetta Leuner, an associate professor of psychology at Ohio State, now plans to examine whether or not brain immune cells activated during gestational stress are responsible for eliminating dendritic spines. His research partner, Kathryn Lenz, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University, has studied the role of the immune system in brain development. According to her, “by superimposing gestational stress on a normal pregnancy, we find that the normal immunosuppression that should occur during pregnancy, does not occur. In fact, there are signs of inflammation in the brain, which could be bad for dendritic spines and synapses.”
She observed that every characteristic of the cells studied changed under the effect of stress. Researchers are also manipulating inflammatory changes in the brain to see if they reverse the effects of postpartum depression.
Upheavals and postpartum depression
Stressful life events and stressors unique to motherhood make women prone to postpartum depression. Other psychological and social factors contribute to this. Overall, it is important for care professionals to take into account the considerable influence of motherhood on the psychological, social and economic lives of women, in order to ensure adequate coping mechanisms.
.