Researchers from the United States showed that children whose mothers used to use marijuana during pregnancy, improved sensitivity to stress and weaker immunity. Dedicated to the dangerous drug effect. Article of scientists was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Specialists from Ikana Medical School Mount Sinai Hospital and New York City University analyzed the expression of placenta genes for 322 pairs of a mother-child. The researchers also studied the behavior and physiology of children at their achievement of the six-year-old age. The resulting hair samples allowed them to measure hormonal levels, and the work of the heart during stressful situations was measured using electrocardiograms. The behavior of children was assessed by asking their parents to fill the questionnaires.
It was found that children whose mothers were used during pregnancy, they were more anxious, were more aggressive and hyperactive. Compared to other children, they had the above cortisol hormone content. They also had a smaller interval between heartbeats – which indicates a greater sensitivity to stress. The sequencing of RNA placental tissue assembled during childbirth showed that the use of marijuana mothers was associated with less expression in children of genes associated with the activation of the immune system, in particular, pro-inflammatory cytokines and type I interferons.