Category Archives: Behavioral Epigenetics

Situational Stress Makes Short-Term Epigenetic Changes

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Chris Womack

Or so it appears, based on research by Gunther Meinlschmidt and colleagues. When they exposed 76 people to a stressful simulated social situation, they found changes in the methylation of two genes within an hour. What’s more, those two genes—oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)—are important to human behavior. The oxytocin receptor conveys the hormone oxytocin’s effect at several sites in the body, including the brain. BDNF supports existing neurons, encourages their growth, and functions in memory and learning. The case isn’t perfectly conclusive yet, of course—with 76 subjects between 61 and 67 years old, the study could be larger. And the team measured gene methylation in blood samples—and not brain samples, of course—so it’s not clear that … Continue reading →

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Trangenerational Epigenetic Inheritance: An Environmental Toxin Exposure & Stress Combinational Phenotype

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Nicole Kelesoglu

How much of an expert are you on environmental toxins and epigenetic inheritance? Practically everyone is aware of DTT. Many of us are aware of the plasticizer BPA. But how many of us are aware of vinclozolin? If you work in the field of epigenetics, you should be. The lab of Michael Skinner, at Washington State University, has been able to use this fungicide to study transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in male rat germ lines. What is it, though? In this case, after initial exposure to the environmental toxin in utero, a transgenerational epigenetic inheritance phenotype exists at least through the third generation in a lineage, in absence of that toxin. The vinclozolin rat model was applied recently in the Skinner … Continue reading →

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The Critical Window, Epigenetics, and Stress — and Maybe Mental Health too

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Chris Womack

The past few weeks have been good for stress. Two labs published studies supporting the idea that stress during sensitive periods in early development can cause epigenetic changes affecting how an organism turns out. These studies look at mice and humans, respectively. I’m diving into the mouse study today — it’s got two kinds of epigenetics: an inherited, probably chromatin-mark imprinting angle; and an miRNA angle. I’ll get to the human study from the Kobor lab next time. As an aside, I find “stress and epigenetics”  especially interesting because I’m always looking for clues about how this new-ish field is perceived and represented by the lay public, and “stress” is a lay-public magnet. As I’ve talked about before, aside from … Continue reading →

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To Succeed, Develop Your Talents Epigenetically

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Nicole Kelesoglu

While visiting Rio de Janeiro two weeks ago, I attended a soccer game. I’m not a big soccer fan. Yet there I was up on my feet, hollering. You just can’t help yourself. Brazilians are the best soccer players in the world! Inspired by that game, I read the book Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham and the Science of Success by the British, former ping pong champion turned journalist, Matthew Syed. The book presents evidence that success is driven primarily by effort, not genetics. Just the idea of innate talents, has a negative effect on motivation and success. Society would achieve more if everyone understood that expertise is concretely achievable – you are not just born with it. There are … Continue reading →

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