It's also important for brain development in young children.
Our hypothesis was that paternal stress in the preconception period could impact brain development in the offspring, leading to behavioral abnormalities later in life.
Similarly, low maternal TH levels during pregnancy can interfere with normal brain development in the offspring [ 4].
"They are different in hormonal development, in brain development, in physiological development and in social development," they say.
THE LEARNING BRAIN Memory and Brain Development in Children.
Johnson, M. H. Functional brain development in humans.
Here is a scenario, then, where a stressor experienced by one animal (the mother) influences brain development of the offspring in a sex-dependent manner and does so via effects on a tissue that is outside of the "body proper" and neither entirely fetal nor maternal!
Recent epidemiologic studies in Europe and the United States have concluded that maternal hypothyroidism during pregnancy, even when mild and considered subclinical, and especially when occurring during early gestation, may be associated with an impairment of normal brain development and intelligence in offspring (Haddow et al. 1999; Pop et al. 1999).
The most prevalent hypothesis suggests that infection-induced disruption of prenatal or early postnatal brain development predispose the offspring to long-lasting changes in subsequent brain and behavioural development and ultimately leads to adult neuropathology and associated behavioural changes in adolescence or early adulthood [25], [27].
Thus, prenatal experience and maternal FADS2 status have a pervasive, long-lasting influence on the brain development of the offspring, but as the postnatal environment becomes more primary, the offsprings' own biology begins to have an effect.
