High Maternal Cortisol Levels During Pregnancy Leads to Dysbiosis in Newborn’s Gut Microbiome

Stress during pregnancy can have serious implications for fetal development. Maternal prenatal stress, measured using cortisol concentrations, is a simple measure of stress that is often overlooked when pregnancy outcomes are researched. Heightened stress response through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis directly affects the maternal gut via glucocorticoid (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) on gut epithelial cells. The interaction of cortisol with these intracellular receptors leads to altered epithelial barrier permeability and nutritional availability. Stress results in a shift in maternal gut microbiome composition during pregnancy. This can be transferred to the fetus during birth and prime the newborn’s gut microbiome in a manner that leads to gut dysbiosis during early stages. This review will discuss how the HPA axis is involved with stress responses in the body, the impact of stress on the mother’s gut microbiome, and the transfer of the disrupted mother’s microbiome and/or metabolites to the newborn prior to and during birth.