Department of Psychiatry, McGill University and Psychosocial Research Division, Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Canada.
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bio Informatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020 Oct;117:198-210. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.016. Epub 2017 May 18.
In utero exposure to environmental stress in both animals and humans could result in long-term epigenome alterations which further lead to consequences for adaptation and development in the offspring. Epigenetics, especially DNA methylation, is considered one of the most widely studied and well-characterized mechanisms involved in the long-lasting effects of in utero stress exposure. In this review, we outlined evidence from animal and human prenatal research supporting the view that prenatal stress could lead to lasting, broad and functionally organized signatures in DNA methylation which, in turn, could mediate exposure-phenotype associations. We also emphasized the advantage of using stressor from quasi-randomly assigned experiments. Furthermore, we discuss challenges that still need to be addressed in this field in the future.
在动物和人类中，子宫内暴露于环境应激会导致长期的表观基因组改变，从而进一步导致后代适应和发育的后果。表观遗传学，特别是 DNA 甲基化，被认为是参与子宫内应激暴露的长期影响的研究最广泛和特征最明确的机制之一。在这篇综述中，我们概述了来自动物和人类产前研究的证据，支持产前应激可能导致 DNA 甲基化中持久、广泛和功能组织的特征的观点，而这些特征反过来又可能介导暴露-表型关联。我们还强调了使用准随机分配实验的应激源的优势。此外，我们还讨论了未来该领域仍需要解决的挑战。
