The placenta as an early window to understanding brain development

BiSC researcher Dr. Marta Cosin Tomas has been awarded a prestigious 2024 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. The foundation is an international non-profit organization focused on improving the understanding, prevention, and treatment of psychiatric and mental health disorders. The grant, worth $70,000 over two years (2025–2026), will support a pioneering project that studies how the placenta can provide clues about infant brain development, thanks to the participation of families from the BiSC (Barcelona Life Study Cohort) birth cohort.

Although we often think of the placenta as just a transit organ, responsible for transferring oxygen and nutrients from the mother to the fetus, science has discovered that it does much more. The placenta also produces hormones, neurotransmitters and growth factors that regulate brain development, and protects it from environmental stress. For this reason, it is often referred to as the placenta-brain axis.

One of the mechanisms that makes this influence of the placenta on the brain possible is epigenetics: a set of biochemical modifications, such as DNA methylation, that do not alter the genetic sequence but regulate gene expression. These marks are found in all cells of the body, can be influenced by genetic and environmental factors (such as stress, nutrition or exposure to toxins and infections), and the placenta is especially rich in them. Alterations in these epigenetic mechanisms can modify placental function —such as nutrient transport, hormone production, neuroendocrine regulation or even neurotransmitter synthesis and signaling—, and thus affect fetal brain development. For example, high levels of methylation in the HTR2A gene, which encodes a serotonin receptor, have been associated with changes in the neurobehavioral development of infants, highlighting the possible functional relevance of these placental epigenetic marks (Paquette et al., 2013).

The project will analyze these epigenetic marks in samples of 500 placentas from the BiSC cohort, relating them to neuropsychological development data collected during the first 4 years of the children’s lives. The goal is to explore whether certain methylation patterns are associated with differences in cognitive, emotional or behavioral development.

Although we are still far from being able to make precise predictions at the individual level, this research can contribute to identifying early risk factors and generate valuable knowledge about the biological mechanisms that link the prenatal stage with neurodevelopment and child mental health.

Furthermore, this study represents another step towards preventive and personalized medicine, and is possible thanks to the involvement of volunteer families who are part of the BiSC cohort.

 

The news has been written by Marta Cosin, researcher of the BiSC project.