Conserved DNA Methylation Signatures in the Prefrontal Cortex of Newborn and Juvenile Guinea Pigs Following Antenatal Betamethasone Exposure

We investigated the effect of antenatal corticosteroid exposure (ACS) on the DNA methylation patterns in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of female guinea pig offspring. Guinea pig dams were treated with saline or betamethasone on gestational days 50/51. PFC was collected from newborn (post-natal day 1) and juvenile (PND 14) offspring. Methylation assessment using genomic DNA was performed with reduced representation bisulfite sequencing techniques. Overall design: Differential DNA methylation in the prefrontal cortex of newborn female guinea pig offspring was assessed to compare profiles between Betamethasone and saline control exposures. The PND1 cohort has n=7 per treatment condition, total of 14. The PND14 cohort has n=7 in the saline group and n=6 in the Betamethasone group, to a total of 13.