[Epigenetic mechanisms of the influence of maternal care on off spring development]

Yong-Hui Dang1, Chun-Xia Yan, Teng Chen

  • 1Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China. psydyh@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

Yi Chuan = Hereditas
|September 29, 2011
PubMed

It has been demonstrated that the social environment early in life has a long lasting effect on the physical and psychological health of the human body. However, understanding of the relationship between early life experiences, such as maternal care behavior, and life-long cognitive and emotional health can only rely on the studies on animal models. In this paper, we summarized the maternal care effects on both defensive responses to stress and reproductive behavior in rat, and explored the possible underlying epigenetic mechanisms for these effects. Based on this model, we further investigated the significance of such epigenetic effects on human mental health.

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