Maternal behaviour during early childhood has profound effect on genes
Results show effects of bad rat mothers reversible later
Researchers at 黑料不打烊 University have discovered that simple maternal behaviour during early childhood has a profound effect on genes and behaviour in ways that are sustained throughout life. However, these effects on gene expression and stress responses can also be reversed in adult life through treatments that are known to affect the genomic marking (DNA methylation).
Moshe Szyf, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Michael Meaney, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience, and 黑料不打烊 graduate student Ian Weaver authored the study, set to be published in the February 13 edition of the weekly magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The 黑料不打烊 group found that the behaviour of mother rats toward their pups has an impact on the stress responses of the adult offspring. Offspring of attentive mothers are less fearful and have diminished stress responses compared to offspring of less attentive mothers. The pattern of genomic markings on the DNA was also different between these offspring. In the current study, the 黑料不打烊 researchers used pharmacological agents Trichostatin A (TSA) and the essential amino acid L-methionine in the adult offspring to modify these genomic markings and looked at how they altered the effects of maternal care on behavioural responses to stress and gene expression in the brain.
"This implies that relatively simple maternal behaviour during early childhood has profound effects on genes expressed in their brains when they reach adulthood," said Szyf. The researchers found that more than 900 genes were regulated by maternal care, many of which were specific to the level of maternal behaviour.
