Work

The impact and mechanisms of preeclampsia on offspring neurodevelopment

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-specific hypertensive disorder that has significant impact on offspring neurodevelopment. In this review, we first summarize the clinical and epidemiological evidence that PE disrupts fetal brain development while increasing the risk of neuropsychiatric diseases such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in offspring. PE exposure is associated with altered brain growth and cortical morphology and white-matter microstructure in offspring, and with persistent deficits in cognition, emotion and social ability. We then propose the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying how PE exposure influences offspring neurodevelopment and thus increases the susceptibility of neuropsychiatric diseases in offspring from the studies of animal models. We pay attention to the heterogeneity across studies related to gestational age at delivery, fetal growth restriction (FGR) and postnatal exposures, highlighting the sex-specific mechanisms and translational therapeutic targets. Lastly, we discuss future directions including sexually dimorphic effects of PE and “two-hits” experimental paradigms to model prenatal-postnatal interactions.

Source: Cell & Bioscience

DOI: 10.1186/s13578-026-01540-z

Authors: Ying Zhang, Li Bao, Ke-Zhi Li, Bi-Han Wang, Bi-Yuan He, Dong-Min Yin

Institutions: Shanghai Changning Maternity and Infant Health Hospital, East China Normal University, New York University Shanghai

Language: English

Topic: Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies

Subfield: Obstetrics and Gynecology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,890