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HEREDITAS ›› 2011, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (9): 919-924.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1005.2011.00919

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Epigenetic mechanisms of the influence of maternal care on off spring development

DANG Yong-Hui, YAN Chun-Xia, CHEN Teng   

  1. Key Laboratory of the Health Ministry for Forensic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases of the Education Ministry, Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, China
  • Received:2010-11-22 Revised:2011-01-04 Online:2011-09-20 Published:2011-09-25

Abstract: It has been demonstrated that the social environment early in life has a long lasting effect on the physical and psychological health of the human body. However, understanding of the relationship between early life experiences, such as maternal care behavior, and life-long cognitive and emotional health can only rely on the studies on animal models. In this paper, we summarized the maternal care effects on both defensive responses to stress and reproductive behavior in rat, and explored the possible underling epigenetic mechanisms for these effects. Based on this model, we further investigated the significance of such epigenetic effects on human mental health.

Key words: maternal care, early life adversity, environmental programming, epigenetics