Prenatal exposure to environmental stressors influences the susceptibility of the new-born to certain chronic diseases by modulating epigenetic mechanisms. The aim of this study was to explore the connections between adverse environmental exposures during gestation and DNA methylation by applying artificial neural networks (ANNs). Information on the mother’s lifestyle during gestation, placenta heavy metals and dioxins concentrations, and DNA methylation levels of placenta, maternal and neonatal buccal cells were obtained from 28 mother-infant couples.
ANNs analysis revealed several associations among mothers’ lifestyle, heavy metals and dioxins placenta concentrations and DNA methylation levels of several genes, some of which involved in neurodevelopment, including BDNF and NR3C1, and in DNA repair, including MGMT, in placenta, mothers and neonatal buccal cells.
Current results show that methylation levels of genes important for embryonic development are sensitive to various environmental stressors during pregnancy and are modulated in placenta, potentially affecting fetal development, and in buccal cells, potentially providing peripheral biomarkers of environmental exposure.

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1-Department of Translational Research and of New Surgical and Medical Technologies, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
2-Villa Santa Maria Foundation, Tavernerio, Como, Italy
3-Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna, Reparto Chimico degli Alimenti, Bologna, Italy
4-Euro Mediterranean Scientific Biomedical Institute-ISBEM Research Centre, Mesagne (Brindisi), Italy