Maternal & Child Health
Early childhood is a crucial time that sets up children for a lifetime of adaptation to the complexities of human life. During the first five years of life, stress is a risk factor for depression, anxiety disorders, drug abuse, and many other medical conditions. But what if this crucial period of development begins even before birth, in the womb?
The ingredients of early childhood development are the genes that a child inherits and, in a process called epigenetics, the way the environment affects
those genes, turning them off or on. The process begins immediately, as soon as the egg is fertilized. The developing brain is affected deeply by its environment as it grows in its mother’s body.
What if genetic testing of the placenta—an organ that carries the child’s genes, not the mother’s— could give us advanced insight into a child’s biological predisposition to a specific illness? Suppose doctors knew what external stimuli turned on genes for conditions like schizophrenia and autism. In that case, they could determine which pregnancies are at risk and which environmental triggers pregnant people should avoid. Prenatal personalized medicine could be the future of healthy brain development.
Developmental behavioral disorders occur two to four times more oftenin males than females
The placenta is the only organ removed from the human body that is not routinely sent to a laboratory for examination
Lieber Institute researchers have found that the placenta is an incredible window into the earliest stage of developmental brain disorders. For example, their research has found that the placenta’s health can influence a child’s risk of schizophrenia and other neuro developmental disorders. In examining placentas from complicated pregnancies, researchers found schizophrenia genes were turned on more often in the placentas from male children than females, explaining in part perhaps why men are more likely to develop the condition. Lieber’s scientists use their unique insight to understand better the factors that bias genomic development toward or against successful adaption to the world. Their ongoing research is looking for more mechanisms of early brain development that scientists could use to evaluate or eliminate a child’s risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.