Long term effects of repeatead maternal separation in rats induces changes on neurochemical, behavioural and neuronal functions. Epigenetic mechanisms are involved?

ACOSTA GB

Maringá

Jornada; VII Annual Seminar from Graduate Program; 2016

Adverse experiences in early life can affect the formation of neuronal circuits during postnatal development and exert long-lasting influences on neural function. Previous studies have indicated that early adverse events enhance the risk of developing behavioral disorders in adulthood, including neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression and psychosis. In rodent and primate models, in particular, interruption of usual mother?pup interactions has been reported to induce persistent changes in the neurobiology, physiology and emotional behavior in adult animals by programming the responsiveness of the hypothalamic?pituitary?adrenal (HPA) axis and can affect subsequent brain function and emotional behavior during adulthood. However, the molecular basis of the long-lasting effects of early life stress on brain function has not been elucidated. The term epigenetics is now commonly used to describe the study of stable alterations in gene expression potential that arise during development, differentiation and under the influence of the environment Epigenetic regulation of gene expression therefore allows the integration of intrinsic and environmental signals in the genome, thus facilitating the adaptation of an organism to changing environment through alterations in gene activity. In this way, epigenetics could be thought of as conferring additional plasticity to the hard-coded genome. The epigenetic mechanisms can mediate the gene?environment dialog in early life and give rise to persistent epigenetic programming of adult physiology and dysfunction eventually resulting in disease