The concept of biological embedding has gained substantial traction as a framework
for understanding the roots of complex multifactorial phenomena in health and disease.
A body of research over several decades indicates that early life experiences have
profound consequences for health in adulthood, including mental health, as a consequence
of establishing long-term health gradients (
1
). Early interventions have been proposed to have an enhanced impact on health trajectories
in part because they act at a time of enhanced plasticity (
2
). Early-life adversity in the form of physical and sexual abuse or severe neglect
is well recognized to increase the risk of suicide (
3
). It has been challenging, however, to elucidate biologic mechanisms that underlie
long-term changes in brain and behavior that are associated with the increased risk.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- How experience gets under the skin to create gradients in developmental health.Annu Rev Public Health. 2010; 31: 329-347
- Developmental plasticity and developmental origins of non-communicable disease: theoretical considerations and epigenetic mechanisms.Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2010; 106: 272-280
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- Epigenetics as a unifying principle in the aetiology of complex traits and diseases.Nature. 2010; 465: 721-727
- Epigenetic regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor in human brain associates with childhood abuse.Nat Neurosci. 2009; 12: 342-348
- Differential glucocorticoid receptor exon 1B, 1C, and 1H expression and methylation in suicide completers with a history of childhood abuse.Biol Psychiatry. 2012; 72: 41-48
- Neurons show distinctive DNA methylation profile and higher interindividual variations compared with non-neurons.Genome Res. 2011; 21: 688-696
- Transgenerational impact of intimate partner violence on methylation in the promoter of the glucocorticoid receptor.Transl Psychiatry. 2011; 1: e21
- Prenatal exposure to maternal depression, neonatal methylation of human glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) and infant cortisol stress responses.Epigenetics. 2008; 3: 97-106
- Broad epigenetic signature of maternal care in the brain of adult rats.PLoS One. 2011; 6: e14739
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
April 23,
2012
Received:
April 23,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Differential Glucocorticoid Receptor Exon 1B, 1C, and 1H Expression and Methylation in Suicide Completers with a History of Childhood AbuseBiological PsychiatryVol. 72Issue 1
- PreviewChildhood abuse alters hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function and increases the risk of suicide. Hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activation regulates HPA activity, and human GR expression (hGR) is reduced in the hippocampus of suicide completers with a history of childhood abuse compared with controls. The abuse-related decrease in hGR expression associates with increased DNA methylation of the promoter of the hGR1F variant in the hippocampus.
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