Prenatal stress, glucocorticoids and the programming of adult disease

Numerous clinical studies associate an adverse prenatal environment with the development of cardio-metabolic disorders and neuroendocrine dysfunction, as well as an increased risk of psychiatric diseases in later life. Experimentally, prenatal exposure to stress or excess glucocorticoids in a variety of animal models can malprogram offspring physiology, resulting in a reduction in birth weight and subsequently increasing the likelihood of disorders of cardiovascular function, glucose homeostasis, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and anxiety-related behaviours in adulthood. During fetal development, placental 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11beta-HSD2) provides a barrier to…