Chronic aggressive behaviour exhibited by some boys from disadvantaged families may be due to epigenetic changes during pregnancy and early childhood. This is highlighted by two studies conducted by a team led by Richard E. Tremblay, professor emeritus at the University of Montreal and Moshe Szyf, professor at McGill University, published in the journal Public Library of Science (PLOS ONE). The first author of the two papers, Nadine Provençal, was jointly supervised by professors Szyf and Tremblay. Epigenetic changes possibly related to the prenatal environment.
In the first study, published in July, the team found that among men who had chronic aggressive behaviour during childhood and adolescence, blood levels of four biomarkers of inflammation were lower than in men who exhibited average levels of aggressive behaviour in their youth, from 6 to 15 years of age. “This means that using four specific biomarkers of inflammation, called cytokines, we were able to distinguish men with chronic physical aggression histories from those without,” says Tremblay, a researcher specializing in developmental psychology. In the second study, it was observed in the same men with aggressive pasts, that the DNA encoding the cytokines showed methylation patterns different from those of the comparison group.
“Methylation is an epigenetic modification—hence reversible—of DNA, in relation to parental imprinting. It plays a role in regulating gene expression“, says Szyf, who specializes in epigenetics.
Read the full story in Medical Xpress.
ANI News
September 23, 2013