Adults could be at greater risk of becoming anxious and vulnerable to poor mental health if they were deprived of certain hormones while developing in the womb, according to joint new research by University of Cardiff and Cambridge scientists.
New research in mice has revealed the role of the placenta in long-term programming of emotional behaviour and the first time scientists have linked changes in adult behaviour to alterations in placental function.
Insulin-like growth factor-2 has been shown to play a major role in foetal and placental development in mammals, and changes in expression of this hormone in the placenta and foetus are implicated in growth restriction in the womb.
"The growth of a baby is a very complex process and there are lots of control mechanisms which make sure that the nutrients required by the baby to grow can be supplied by the mother," according to, Dr Trevor Humby, a behavioural neuroscientist in the Schools of Psychology and Medicine, who jointly led the research with Professor Lawrence Wilkinson.
"We were interested in how disrupting this balance could influence emotional behaviours a long time after being born, as an adult," he added.
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