Investigating mitochondrial bioenergetics in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of women with childhood maltreatment from post-parturition period to one-year follow-up.

This is the first study to longitudinally investigate mitochondrial bioenergetics in postpartum women with and without CM. Our results indicate that CM-related mitochondrial alterations reflect allostatic load, probably due to higher inflammatory states during parturition, which normalize later. However, later inflammatory states might moderate the vulnerability for a second-hit on the level of mitochondrial bioenergetics, at least in immune cells.