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Developmental influences on medically unexplained symptoms.
1Ohio State University Veterinary Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
|March 10, 2009
Summary
Developmental factors and epigenetic modulation of gene expression (EMGEX) may explain medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). This perspective offers new insights into the causes and treatments for these complex conditions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Genetics
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are common in humans and animals, presenting diagnostic challenges.
- Existing medical evaluations often fail to identify the cause of MUS.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the role of developmental factors in the etiology of MUS.
- To investigate the potential impact of early life stress and epigenetic changes on symptom development.
Main Methods:
- Review of current scientific evidence and hypotheses.
- Focus on the proposed mechanisms of maternal stress transmission and fetal programming.
- Consideration of epigenetic modulation of gene expression (EMGEX).
Main Results:
- Developmental factors, including prenatal stress, may program the fetal stress response system.
- Epigenetic modulation of gene expression (EMGEX) is implicated in the development of a 'survival phenotype' associated with MUS.
- New techniques for identifying EMGEX and interventions to reverse it are emerging.
Conclusions:
- Viewing MUS through the lens of developmental influences and EMGEX provides a unified explanation for diverse symptoms.
- This paradigm shift facilitates a better understanding of familial predispositions and multifactorial origins of MUS.
- It opens novel avenues for research into the causes and therapeutic strategies for medically unexplained symptoms.
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