In utero exposure to environmental stress in both animals and humans could result in long-term epigenome alterations which further lead to consequences for adaptation and development in the offspring. Epigenetics, especially DNA methylation, is considered one of the most widely studied and well-characterized mechanisms involved in the long-lasting effects of in utero stress exposure. In this review, we outlined evidence from animal and human prenatal research supporting the view that prenatal stress could lead to lasting, broad and functionally organized signatures in DNA methylation which, in turn, could mediate exposure-phenotype associations. We also emphasized the advantage of using stressor from quasi-randomly assigned experiments. Furthermore, we discuss challenges that still need to be addressed in this field in the future.

在子宫内，动物和人类都面临环境压力，这可能导致长期的表观基因组改变，进而导致后代适应和发育的后果。表观遗传学，尤其是DNA甲基化，被认为是子宫内的长效作用涉及最广泛的研究和特征充分的机制之一压力暴露。在这篇综述中，我们概述了来自动物和人类产前研究的证据，支持了以下观点：产前压力可能导致DNA甲基化作用的持久，广泛和功能性组织特征，进而可以介导暴露-表型关联。我们还强调了从准随机分配的实验中使用压力源的优势。此外，我们讨论了将来在该领域仍需要解决的挑战。