Neonatal maternal separation stress elicits lasting DNA methylation changes in the hippocampus of stress-reactive Wistar Kyoto rats.

ABSTRACT: Early-life stress (ELS) can alter neurodevelopment in variable ways, ranging from producing deleterious outcomes to stress resilience. While most ELS studies focus on its harmful effects, recent work by our laboratory and others shows that ELS elicits positive effects in certain individuals. We exposed Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats, known for a stress reactive, anxiety/depression-like phenotype, to maternal separation (MS), a model of ELS. MS exposure elicited anxiolytic and antidepressant behavioral effects as well as improved cardiovascular function in adult WKY offspring. This study interrogates an epigenetic mechanism (DNA methylation) that may confer the adaptive effects of MS in WKY offspring. We quantified global genome methylation levels in limbic brain regions of adult WKYs exposed to d

SUBMITTER: McCoy CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5656998 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature