Grant: Op Gr: NI grants in MRC&Y Health - Pre- and Post-Partum Maternal Mental Health

This proposal focuses on: (1) how paternal factors can affect brain and endocrine function of the child; and (2) whether the impact of paternal factors extends beyond fetal life up until middle childhood (i.e. 6-8 years of age). Pre-conception paternal factors (factors present before sperm meets egg) may directly cause alterations in the molecular machinery regulating gene expression in sperm, particularly in genes related to both brain and endocrine function. During pregnancy and postpartum, perinatal paternal factors may further impact the child's brain and endocrine function through their indirect influence on perinatal maternal depression and anxiety. Research from our group and others indicates that both pre-conception and perinatal paternal risk factors may lead to permanent changes in brain and endocrine systems during fetal development, and that this effect may last until adrenarche (i.e. a peak in adrenal steroid hormone production around 6-8 years old that represents the 1st step in pubertal maturation). Endocrine disruption during development (e.g. premature adrenarche) significantly increases the risk of impulse control disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), conduct and oppositional disorders. This suggests that paternal effects on brain and endocrine function of the child can potentially have long-term behavioral impacts that may extend to middle childhood. Understanding the paternal contribution to the child's brain and endocrine development will help tailor preventative public health interventions to decrease exposure to modifiable paternal risk factors. Paternal lifestyle changes made even a few weeks before conception could make a critical difference down the line in vulnerable children. Hence, anticipated results from this project are likely to have a strong public health impact and can be used to counsel fathers about modifiable risk factors as early as the pre-conception period.