DNA Methylation Mediating the Impact of Early Life Adversity of Mental Health

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Szyf
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Early life adversity alters normal sex-dependent developmental dynamics of DNA methylation

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4pt2) ◽  
pp. 1259-1272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renaud Massart ◽  
Zsofia Nemoda ◽  
Matthew J. Suderman ◽  
Sheila Sutti ◽  
Angela M. Ruggiero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Maternal Separation ◽  
Methylation Profile ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
Developmental Evolution ◽  
Dna Methylation Profile ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact

AbstractStudies in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans suggest that epigenetic processes mediate between early life experiences and adult phenotype. However, the normal evolution of epigenetic programs during child development, the effect of sex, and the impact of early life adversity on these trajectories are not well understood. This study mapped the genome-wide DNA methylation changes in CD3+ T lymphocytes from rhesus monkeys from postnatal day 14 through 2 years of age in both males and females and determined the impact of maternal deprivation on the DNA methylation profile. We show here that DNA methylation profiles evolve from birth to adolescence and are sex dependent. DNA methylation changes accompany imposed weaning, attenuating the difference between males and females. Maternal separation at birth alters the normal evolution of DNA methylation profiles and targets genes that are also affected by a later stage maternal separation, that is, weaning. Our results suggest that early life events dynamically interfere with the normal developmental evolution of the DNA methylation profile and that these changes are highly effected by sex.

scholarly journals Intra-individual methylomics detects the impact of early-life adversity

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. e201800204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Jiang ◽  
Noriko Kamei ◽  
Jessica L Bolton ◽  
Xinyi Ma ◽  
Hal S Stern ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Cell Fate ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact

Genetic and environmental factors interact during sensitive periods early in life to influence mental health and disease via epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation. However, it is not known if DNA methylation changes outside the brain provide an “epigenetic signature” of early-life experiences. Here, we used a novel intra-individual approach by testing DNA methylation from buccal cells of individual rats before and immediately after exposure to one week of typical or adverse life experience. We find that whereas inter-individual changes in DNA methylation reflect the effect of age, DNA methylation changes within paired DNA samples from the same individual reflect the impact of diverse neonatal experiences. Genes coding for critical cellular metabolic enzymes, ion channels, and receptors were more methylated in pups exposed to the adverse environment, predictive of their repression. In contrast, the adverse experience was associated with less methylation on genes involved in pathways of death and inflammation as well as cell-fate–related transcription factors, indicating their potential up-regulation. Thus, intra-individual methylome signatures indicate large-scale transcription-driven alterations of cellular fate, growth, and function.

scholarly journals Intra-individual methylomics detects the impact of early-life adversity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Jiang ◽  
Noriko Kamei ◽  
Jessica L. Bolton ◽  
Xinyi Ma ◽  
Hal S. Stern ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Cell Fate ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact

AbstractGenetic and environmental factors interact during sensitive periods early in life to influence mental health and disease via epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation. However, it is not known if DNA methylation changes outside the brain provide an ‘epigenetic signature’ of early-life experiences. Here, we employed a novel intra-individual approach by testing DNA methylation from buccal cells of individual rats before and immediately after exposure to one week of typical or adverse life experience. We find that whereas inter-individual changes in DNA methylation reflect the effect of age, DNA methylation changes within paired DNA samples from the same individual reflect the impact of diverse neonatal experiences. Genes coding for critical cellular–metabolic enzymes, ion channels and receptors were more methylated in pups exposed to the adverse environment, predictive of their repression. In contrast, the adverse experience was associated with less methylation on genes involved in pathways of death and inflammation as well as cell-fate related transcription factors, indicating their potential upregulation. Thus, intra-individual methylome signatures indicate large-scale transcription-driven alterations of cellular fate, growth and function.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of attentional control in social anxiety disorder: the impact of early-life adversity and DNA methylation

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. E663-E674
Author(s):  
Ariane Wiegand ◽  
Matthias H. J. Munk ◽  
Sanja Drohm ◽  
Andreas J. Fallgatter ◽  
Julia L. MacIsaac ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Gene regulation contributes to explain the impact of early life socioeconomic disadvantage on adult inflammatory levels in two cohort studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Carmeli ◽  
Zoltán Kutalik ◽  
Pashupati P. Mishra ◽  
Eleonora Porcu ◽  
Cyrille Delpierre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Gene Regulation ◽  
Cohort Studies ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Socioeconomic Disadvantage ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIndividuals experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood have a higher rate of inflammation-related diseases decades later. Little is known about the mechanisms linking early life experiences to the functioning of the immune system in adulthood. To address this, we explore the relationship across social-to-biological layers of early life social exposures on levels of adulthood inflammation and the mediating role of gene regulatory mechanisms, epigenetic and transcriptomic profiling from blood, in 2,329 individuals from two European cohort studies. Consistently across both studies, we find transcriptional activity explains a substantive proportion (78% and 26%) of the estimated effect of early life disadvantaged social exposures on levels of adulthood inflammation. Furthermore, we show that mechanisms other than cis DNA methylation may regulate those transcriptional fingerprints. These results further our understanding of social-to-biological transitions by pinpointing the role of gene regulation that cannot fully be explained by differential cis DNA methylation.

scholarly journals Maternal separation in rodents: a journey from gut to brain and nutritional perspectives

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Rincel ◽  
Muriel Darnaudéry
Keyword(s):  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Maternal Separation ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Early Life Stress ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
Critical Window ◽  
Beneficial Impact ◽  
The Impact

The developmental period constitutes a critical window of sensitivity to stress. Indeed, early-life adversity increases the risk to develop psychiatric diseases, but also gastrointestinal disorders such as the irritable bowel syndrome at adulthood. In the past decade, there has been huge interest in the gut–brain axis, especially as regards stress-related emotional behaviours. Animal models of early-life adversity, in particular, maternal separation (MS) in rodents, demonstrate lasting deleterious effects on both the gut and the brain. Here, we review the effects of MS on both systems with a focus on stress-related behaviours. In addition, we discuss more recent findings showing the impact of gut-directed interventions, including nutrition with pre- and probiotics, illustrating the role played by gut microbiota in mediating the long-term effects of MS. Overall, preclinical studies suggest that nutritional approaches with pro- and prebiotics may constitute safe and efficient strategies to attenuate the effects of early-life stress on the gut–brain axis. Further research is required to understand the complex mechanisms underlying gut–brain interaction dysfunctions after early-life stress as well as to determine the beneficial impact of gut-directed strategies in a context of early-life adversity in human subjects.

Abstract 24: Prenatal Socioeconomic Position is Associated with Adipose Tissue DNA Methylation in Women and Not Men

Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 129 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Golareh Agha ◽  
Andres E Houseman ◽  
Karl T Kelsey ◽  
Charles B Eaton ◽  
Stephen L Buka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Adipose Tissue ◽  
New England ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Blood Leukocytes ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
Smoking During Pregnancy ◽  
Socioeconomic Index ◽  
Affected Tissue ◽  
Subcutaneous Adipose

RATIONALE: Adiposity is a major cardiovascular risk factor, suggesting an important role for adipose tissue in development of cardiovascular outcomes. There is evidence that early life adversity has a lasting impact on the development of adiposity, particularly in women. In utero exposure to famine was related to adulthood adiposity in women but not men, and associations between early life socioeconomic adversity and adulthood adiposity is established in women but less so in men. There is interest in epigenetic mechanisms by which early life adversity may program risk for adiposity, and utilizing directly affected tissue such as adipose tissue is ideal for investigating such mechanisms. Objective: To determine whether prenatally-assessed socioeconomic index (SEI) is associated with adulthood genome-wide DNA methylation in blood and adipose tissue, and whether associations differ between men and women. Methods: Participants (aged 44-50 y) were from the New England Family Study birth cohort, born in Providence, RI. Of 400 participants assessed during 2010-2011, a representative subsample of 106 participants (68 women, 38 men) was selected for DNA methylation analyses. SEI was measured prenatally as a composite numerical score, using a weighted percentile of both parents’ educational attainment, occupation, and income relative to the US population. DNA methylation in subcutaneous adipose tissue and peripheral blood leukocytes was evaluated using the Infinium HumanMethylation450K BeadChip. Results: Prenatal SEI was associated with adipose tissue DNA methylation in women (permutation-based omnibus p-values <0.001), but not men or the pooled sample. Associations in women were not attenuated after adjustment for race, current smoking, or mother’s smoking during pregnancy. Prenatal SEI was not related to blood DNA methylation. Conclusion: Results provide mechanistic insight on the association between early life adversity and adulthood adiposity, which is seen mainly in women.

scholarly journals The Impact of Distal Influences and Proximal Resources on the Mental Health of African American Older Adults: Findings From the Georgia Centenarian Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meneka C Johnson Nicholson ◽  
Peter Martin ◽  
Megan Gilligan ◽  
Carolyn E Cutrona ◽  
Daniel W Russell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
African American ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Health Outcomes ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
The Impact ◽  
African American Older Adults

Abstract Background and Objectives Over the years, a large amount of research has been devoted to the investigation of factors that led to mental health outcomes in older adults. For African American older adults, their lived experiences place them at high risk for mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of early life influences (i.e., education, childhood life events, and childhood financial well-being) and present psychosocial resources (i.e., individual, financial, and social) on current mental health outcomes in a sample of African American older adults in their 60s, 80s, and 100s. Research Design and Methods Using data from the Georgia Centenarian Study, 125 participants were interviewed about their mental health, resources, and early life influences. Results A structural equation model was tested and resulted in a good fit. Results indicated that the more social resources African American older adults had available, the lower the number of depressive symptoms they reported. African Americans with higher levels of financial well-being during childhood reported higher self-rated mental health. Older adults had higher levels of financial resources. Level of education showed a positive relationship with financial resources. Indirect effects of distal influences on health outcomes via current resources were not found. Discussion and Implications The findings are of direct practical relevance and can be used to more readily identify older African Americans who may be susceptible to poorer mental health outcomes based upon the impact of their unique distal and proximal psychosocial resources.

Inflammatory and Epigenetic Pathways for Perinatal Depression

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey Garfield ◽  
Herbert L. Mathews ◽  
Linda Witek Janusek
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Infant Health ◽  
Perinatal Depression ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Perinatal Period ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

Depression during the perinatal period is common and can have adverse consequences for women and their children. Yet, the biobehavioral mechanisms underlying perinatal depression are not known. Adverse early life experiences increase the risk for adult depression. One potential mechanism by which this increased risk occurs is epigenetic embedding of inflammatory pathways. The purpose of this article is to propose a conceptual model that explicates the linkage between early life adversity and the risk for maternal depression. The model posits that early life adversity embeds a proinflammatory epigenetic signature (altered DNA methylation) that predisposes vulnerable women to depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period. As proposed, women with a history of early life adversity are more likely to exhibit higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines and lower levels of oxytocin in response to the demands of pregnancy and new motherhood, both of which are associated with the risk for perinatal depression. The model is designed to guide investigations into the biobehavioral basis for perinatal depression, with emphasis upon the impact of early life adversity. Testing this model will provide a better understanding of maternal depressive risk and improve identification of vulnerable women who would benefit from targeted interventions that can reduce the impact of perinatal depression on maternal–infant health.

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