# Prenatal marijuana: Impact on infant neurobehavior, stress, & epigenetic mechanisms

> **NIH NIH R01** · MIRIAM HOSPITAL · 2020 · $703,017

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Marijuana (cannabis sativa) is the most commonly used illicit substance by pregnant women in the US, with 1
in 12 pregnant women endorsing use and rates as high as 1 in 4 in poor, young, underserved mothers. With
decreasing legal and medical sanctions, increasing availability, and increasing potency of US cannabis, there
is high potential for increasing maternal use and fetal exposure. To our knowledge, there are currently no
NIH-funded prospective human studies of prenatal cannabis use and offspring development or human
studies of biological pathways linking prenatal cannabis and offspring development. We will conduct an
intensive, prospective investigation of the specific effects of maternal prenatal cannabis use on infant
neurobehavior including signs of withdrawal, infant stress response, and epigenetic regulation of
endocannabinoid and glucocorticoid pathways. Central methodology involving prospective assessment of
pregnant cannabis users (use ≥ 2X/week) and a tobacco-matched comparison group (n=125/group) across
gestation followed by developmentally-sensitive measures of infant neurobehavior and stress response at 2
days, 1 and 6 months. An important innovation is our focus on epigenetic regulation of placenta
endocannabinoid and glucocorticoid pathways as mediators of links between prenatal cannabis and infant
neurobehavioral development. Our study also offers numerous innovations to ensure rigor, including one-on-
one matching for tobacco use across cannabis and comparison groups, a propensity modeling approach to
allow causal inference, exquisitely sensitive biomarkers and integrative classification of cannabis exposure,
sophisticated, developmentally-sensitive measures of infant neurobehavior and stress response, and
measurement of key alternative pathways. Our aims are: (1) to characterize effects of maternal cannabis use
on infant neurobehavior including signs of withdrawal, (2) to characterize the impact of prenatal cannabis on
infant glucocorticoid stress response over the first 6 months, (3) to characterize the impact of prenatal
cannabis on epigenetic regulation of placenta glucocorticoid and endocannabinoid pathways, and (4) to test
proposed placenta epigenetic pathways linking prenatal cannabis and infant neurobehavior. To our knowledge,
the proposed study would be the first comprehensive investigation of the impact of prenatal cannabis use on
infant neurobehavioral development as well as key plausible biological pathways. Our study is distinguished by
its focus on a highly prevalent but understudied drug of abuse and innovative methods and novel biological
pathways pioneered by our group. Results from the proposed study will provide critical data for obstetric
providers and pregnant women, and will inform policy, regulations, and public health messaging
regarding cannabis use by pregnant and reproductive age women. Results will also elucidate the earliest
biomarkers of risk from prenatal cannabis exposu...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9982828
- **Project number:** 5R01DA044504-04
- **Recipient organization:** MIRIAM HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** LAURA R STROUD
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $703,017
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9982828

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9982828, Prenatal marijuana: Impact on infant neurobehavior, stress, & epigenetic mechanisms (5R01DA044504-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9982828. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*