Impact of Prenatal Stress on brain ageing

Fetal programming, undernutrition and stress

Mission:
 Slowing brain ageing and susceptibility to
 age-associated diseases: Early programming 
of pathways and genes and late 
interventional targets.

Committed to healthy brain ageing
 from the very beginning

A healthy brain is a major determinant of good life-long health. Human epidemiological and animal studies indicate that in addition to life style and genetic factors, environmental influences in prenatal life have a major impact on brain ageing and age-associated brain disorders. Our consortium consists of leading European and US-American neuroscientists, physiologists, obstetricians, developmental psychologists and innovative biotech companies.

Our project will determine structural and functional indicators of brain age. We examine to what extent prenatal stress, i.e. maternal stress, glucocorticoid treatment or malnutrition, mediate premature brain ageing and susceptibility to age-associated brain disorders such as cognitive decline and stroke. We dissect mechanisms and pharmacological interventions which may be used in elderly people. Information obtained will allow identification of people at risk for premature brain ageing and offer therapeutic interventions.

Keywords:

• Fetal programming
• Brain ageing
• Prenatal stress
• Mechanisms of effects of prenatal stress
• Glucocorticoid treatment
• Brain development
• Stress sensitive brain
• Epigenetics
• Dutch Famine/Dutch Hunger Winter
• Glucocorticoid receptor

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