Animal Models of Prenatal Stress

Abstract

　Maternal stress during pregnancy has been linked to chronic disease and cancer in offspring. We used prenatal stress animal models to study maternal stress during pregnancy at Johns Hopkins University from December 2017 to February 2019. This is the review article about prenatal stress and animal models.

　Previous epidemiology reports have shown that maternal stress could cause cancer, cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric illness or immune dysfunction in human populations. Furthermore, stress during pregnancy has also been linked specifically to colon cancer and leukemia in adult offspring.

　We have developed three animal models of prenatal stress, 1. A/J mouse for lung cancer, 2. ApoE (Apolipoprotein E) knockout mouse for atherosclerosis, 3. mogp-TAg mouse for ovarian cancer. In our first publication, the effect prenatal stress on carcinogenesis through changing the tumor environment was suggested in our studies with A/J mice who develop lung cancer.

　There were no animal models to study the role of prenatal stress and future carcinogenesis in the offspring exposed to stress as a fetus. We set up a study to test the hypothesis that prenatal stress would make the progeny more sensitive to carcinogens. Animal model of prenatal stress is necessary to understand the stress hormonal effect between mother and fetus, and the role of stress on carcinogenesis.