Early prenatal but not postnatal glucocorticoid exposure is associated with enhanced HPA axis activity into adulthood in a wild primate

🔬 Our latest research on stress physiology is published as a preprint! 🐒

🧬 Abstract: our study delves into the intricate biology of developmental plasticity in mammals, focusing on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. We explored the effects of timing of maternal glucocorticoids and its impact on offspring HPA axis activity, focusing on wild macaques in their natural habitat.

Key Insights:

🌿 Studied maternal glucocorticoid during gestation and lactation
🔍 Assessed long-term effects on offspring’s HPA axis activity, from infancy to adulthood
📊 Found increased offspring HPA axis activity linked to early prenatal exposure to high maternal glucocorticoid levels – the effect persisted into adulthood
🧩 Highlights the importance of timing on maternal glucocorticoid effects
🌐 Our findings underscore the first semester of gestation as a critical period for stress response programming, a facet often overlooked in both animal and human studies

📝 The paper is submitted to PNAS and is available as a preprint here: https://lnkd.in/dgUhAgTm