Cord blood DNA methylation modifications in infants are associated with white matter microstructure in the context of prenatal maternal depression and anxiety

Abstract Maternal and environmental factors influence brain networks and architecture via both physiological pathways and epigenetic modifications. In particular, prenatal maternal depression and anxiety symptoms appear to impact infant white matter (WM) microstructure, leading us to investigate whether epigenetic modifications (i.e., DNA methylation) contribute to these WM differences. To determine if infants of women with depression and anxiety symptoms exhibit epigenetic modifications linked to neurodevelopmental changes, 52 umbilical cord bloods (CBs) were profiled. We observed 219 differentially methylated genomic positions (DMPs; FDR p 0.5), which were annotated to 98 and 81 genes, respectively. Together, these findings suggest that umbilical CB DNA methylation levels at birth are associated with 1-month WM microstructure