title: Epigenetics, stress, and their potential impact on brain network function: a focus on the schizophrenia diatheses.
abstract: The recent sociodevelopmental cognitive model of schizophrenia/psychosis is a highly influential and compelling compendium of research findings. Here, we present logical extensions to this model incorporating ideas drawn from epigenetic mediation of psychiatric disease, and the plausible effects of epigenetics on the emergence of brain network function and dysfunction in adolescence. We discuss how gene-environment interactions, effected by epigenetic mechanisms, might in particular mediate the stress response (itself heavily implicated in the emergence of schizophrenia). Next, we discuss the plausible relevance of this framework for adolescent genetic risk populations, a risk group characterized by vexing and difficult-to-explain heterogeneity. We then discuss how exploring relationships between epigenetics and brain network dysfunction (a strongly validated finding in risk populations) can enhance understanding of the relationship between stress, epigenetics, and functional neurobiology, and the relevance of this relationship for the eventual emergence of schizophrenia/psychosis. We suggest that these considerations can expand the impact of models such as the sociodevelopmental cognitive model, increasing their explanatory reach. Ultimately, integration of these lines of research may enhance efforts of early identification, intervention, and treatment in adolescents at-risk for schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine , Detroit, MI , USA.
authors.forename: Vaibhav A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Diwadkar
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University School of Medicine , Detroit, MI , USA.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bustamante
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine , Detroit, MI , USA.
authors.forename: Harinder
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rai
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine , Detroit, MI , USA ; Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University School of Medicine , Detroit, MI , USA.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uddin
keywords: adolescence; brain networks; epigenetics; risk; schizophrenia