Long-term effects of early-life caregiving experiences on brain-derived neurotrophic factor histone acetylation in the adult rat mPFC.

ABSTRACT: Infant-caregiver experiences are major contributing factors to neural and behavioral development. Research indicates that epigenetic mechanisms provide a way in which infant-caregiver experiences affect gene activity and other downstream processes in the brain that influence behavioral development. Our laboratory previously demonstrated in a rodent model that exposure to maltreatment alters methylation of DNA associated with the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (bdnf) and reelin genes as well as mRNA of key epigenetic regulatory genes in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In the current study, we characterized patterns of histone acetylation at bdnf and reelin gene loci after our caregiver manipulations. Using a within-litter design (n = 8-10/group from eight litters), pups were exposed

SUBMITTER: Blaze J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4879775 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature