DNA methylation and childhood maltreatment: from animal models to human studies.
Childhood maltreatment (CM) has estimated prevalence among Western societies between 10% and 15%. As CM associates with increased risk of several psychiatric disorders, early age of illness onset, increased comorbidity and negative clinical outcome, it imposes a major public health, social and economic impact. Although the clinical consequences of CM are well characterized, a major challenge remains to understand how negative early-life events can affect brain function over extended periods of time. We review here both animal and human studies indicating that the epigenetic mechanism of DNA methylation is a crucial mediator of early-life experiences, thereby maintaining life-long neurobiological sequelae of CM, and strongly determining psychopathological risk.
McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
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Lutz
McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: gustavo.turecki@mcgill.ca.
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Turecki
D017668:Age of Onset; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D023421:Models, Animal; D051381:Rats; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000235:genetics
DNA methylation; childhood maltreatment; epigenetic; glucocorticoid receptor; maternal care; stress