Mother’s stress during pregnancy changes the brain connections of fetus. Researchers at Wayne State University examined neural activity of fetuses between 30 and 37 weeks gestation by using newly-developed scanning methods and discovered that fetuses whose mother are exposed to high levels of stress, anxiety and depression are different from those whose mothers did not have high levels of stress, anxiety and depression.

Mothers involved in the study are poor, came from urban areas fraught with stress, with many reporting high levels of depression and anxiety. Maternal stress may affect vision, balance and motor functions development.

Researchers used fetal resting-state fMRI, to check functional connectivity in fetuses scanned between the 30 and 37 weeks gestation. The differences in stress response are seen in cerebellum. Functional macroscale neural networks build during the brain formation, this may affect health and development.
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