Research suggests traumatic childhood experiences embed themselves in our brains and put us at risk of mental illness, but epigenetic editing may offer us hope of removing them
he way depression manifested itself in mice in the laboratory of the psychiatrist and neuroscientist Eric Nestler was hauntingly relatable. When put in an enclosure with an unknown mouse, they sat in the corner and showed little interest. When presented with the treat of a sugary drink, they hardly seemed to notice. And when put into water, they did not swim – they just lay there, drifting about.
Tinkering with the epigenome could essentially give us a way to physically edit out the scars of the past Such modifications are most easily thought of as “tags” directly on or surrounding our DNA. In different ways, they regulate how easily specific genes are read and whether or not the proteins that the genes code for are produced, a process called. “The metaphor that sometimes people use is [a piece of] music,” says social and psychiatric epidemiologist Erin Dunn of Harvard University. “A composer… might add certain annotations in order to bring out certain things.
in Munich: “There is evidence from postmortem brain data that we may see similar things [in humans].”examining the brains of people who killed themselves. The authors found epigenetic differences on stress-related genes between those who had experienced childhood abuse and individuals who had not. It is good evidence, but in order to find out people’s abuse history, the authors had to ask the bereaved relatives, which may not always be reliable, says Binder.
Epigenetics could play a role as a biomarker to flag children at particular risk of developing depression or anxiety later in life.On the back of such research, it is tempting to think that accelerated ageing is exclusively damaging. But the reality is probably more complicated, says psychologist Jennifer Sumner of the University of California, Los Angeles.
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