TY - JOUR
T1 - Time- and sex-dependent associations between prenatal alcohol exposure and placental global DNA methylation
AU - Loke, Yuk Jing
AU - Muggli, Evelyne
AU - Nguyen, Linh
AU - Ryan, Joanne
AU - Saffery, Richard
AU - Elliott, Elizabeth J.
AU - Halliday, Jane
AU - Craig, Jeffrey M.
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Aim: Epigenetic changes, in particular in the placenta, may mediate the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) on children's health. We examined the relationship between PAE patterns, based on dose and timing, and placental global DNA methylation. Methods: Using linear regression analysis, we examined the association between different PAE categories and placental global DNA methylation (n = 187), using the proxy measure of Alu-interspersed repeats. Results: Following adjustment for important covariates, we found no evidence of an association between PAE and placental global DNA methylation overall. However, when stratifying by newborn sex, PAE throughout pregnancy was associated with higher placental global DNA methylation (1.5%; p = 0.01) of male newborns. Conclusion: PAE may have sex-specific effects on placental global DNA methylation if alcohol is consumed throughout pregnancy.
AB - Aim: Epigenetic changes, in particular in the placenta, may mediate the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) on children's health. We examined the relationship between PAE patterns, based on dose and timing, and placental global DNA methylation. Methods: Using linear regression analysis, we examined the association between different PAE categories and placental global DNA methylation (n = 187), using the proxy measure of Alu-interspersed repeats. Results: Following adjustment for important covariates, we found no evidence of an association between PAE and placental global DNA methylation overall. However, when stratifying by newborn sex, PAE throughout pregnancy was associated with higher placental global DNA methylation (1.5%; p = 0.01) of male newborns. Conclusion: PAE may have sex-specific effects on placental global DNA methylation if alcohol is consumed throughout pregnancy.
KW - global DNA methylation
KW - placenta
KW - prenatal alcohol exposure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049839927&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2217/epi-2017-0147
DO - 10.2217/epi-2017-0147
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85049839927
VL - 10
SP - 981
EP - 991
JO - Epigenomics
JF - Epigenomics
SN - 1750-1911
IS - 7
ER -