Chromatin Switches during Neural Cell Differentiation and Their Dysregulation by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure.

ABSTRACT: Prenatal alcohol exposure causes persistent neuropsychiatric deficits included under the term fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Cellular identity emerges from a cascade of intrinsic and extrinsic (involving cell-cell interactions and signaling) processes that are partially initiated and maintained through changes in chromatin structure. Prenatal alcohol exposure influences neuronal and astrocyte development, permanently altering brain connectivity. Prenatal alcohol exposure also alters chromatin structure through histone and DNA modifications. However, the data linking alcohol-induced differentiation changes with developmental alterations in chromatin structure remain to be elucidated. In the first part of this review, we discuss the sequence of chromatin structural changes involved

SUBMITTER: Gavin DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5448011 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature