New York University School of Medicine, Social and Psychiatric Initiatives (InSPIRES), New York, New York 10016, USA.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010 Sep;1204 Suppl(0):E8-13. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05644.x.
Epigenetics holds promise to explain some puzzles concerning the risk and course of psychiatric disorders. Epigenetic information is essential as a set of operating instructions for the genome, which is heritable with DNA. The epigenetic regulation of gene expression can plausibly be influenced by the environment of one's ancestors, prenatal exposures, and by early life events. Some epigenetic mechanisms may alter neurophysiology throughout life by programming gene expression, perhaps in anticipation of certain life experiences. These epigenetic signals are only meta-stable and may be perturbed by stochastic events, errors, or by environmental toxins. This introduction considers the possibility that epigenetic change that may occur as paternal age advances or during fetal adversity may be causally related to the susceptibility for schizophrenia.
表观遗传学有望解释一些与精神疾病风险和病程相关的难题。表观遗传信息是基因组的一组操作指令，它与 DNA 一样具有遗传性。基因表达的表观遗传调控可以通过祖先的环境、产前暴露和生命早期事件来合理地影响。一些表观遗传机制可能通过编程基因表达来改变整个生命周期的神经生理学，也许是为了应对某些生活经历。这些表观遗传信号只是亚稳态的，可能会受到随机事件、错误或环境毒素的干扰。本引言考虑了这样一种可能性，即随着父亲年龄的增长或胎儿逆境时可能发生的表观遗传变化，可能与精神分裂症的易感性有关。
