Folger Alonzo T, Ding Lili, Ji Hong, Yolton Kimberly, Ammerman Robert T, Van Ginkel Judith B, Bowers Katherine
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2019 Feb 5;13:14. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00014. eCollection 2019.
The variation in childhood social-emotional development within at-risk populations may be attributed in part to epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation (DNAm) that respond to environmental stressors. These mechanisms may partially underlie the degree of vulnerability (and resilience) to negative social-emotional development within adverse psychosocial environments. Extensive research supports an association between maternal adversity and offspring DNAm of the gene, which encodes the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). A gap in knowledge remains regarding the relationship between DNAm, measured in neonatal (1-month of age) buccal cells, and subsequent social-emotional development during infancy and early childhood. We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of = 53 mother-child dyads ( = 30 with developmental outcomes formed the basis of current study) who were enrolled in a home visiting (HV) program. Higher mean DNAm of the exon 1 promoter was significantly associated with lower 6-month Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE) scores-more positive infant social-emotional functioning. A similar trend was observed at 18-months of age in a smaller sample ( = 12). The findings of this pilot study indicate that in a diverse and disadvantaged population, the level of neonatal DNAm is related to later social-emotional development. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.
高危人群儿童社会情感发展的差异可能部分归因于表观遗传机制，如对环境应激源产生反应的DNA甲基化（DNAm）。这些机制可能部分解释了在不良心理社会环境中负面社会情感发展的脆弱程度（和恢复力）。大量研究支持母体逆境与编码糖皮质激素受体（GR）的基因的后代DNAm之间存在关联。关于新生儿（1月龄）颊细胞中测量的DNAm与婴儿期和幼儿期随后的社会情感发展之间的关系，仍存在知识空白。我们对53对母婴（其中30对有发育结果构成了当前研究的基础）进行了一项纵向队列研究，这些母婴参加了家访（HV）项目。外显子1启动子的平均DNAm水平较高与6个月龄时较低的《年龄与阶段问卷：社会情感》（ASQ：SE）得分显著相关——婴儿社会情感功能更积极。在一个较小的样本（n = 12）中，18个月龄时也观察到了类似趋势。这项初步研究的结果表明，在一个多样化且处于不利地位的人群中，新生儿DNAm水平与后期社会情感发展有关。讨论了本研究的局限性及对未来研究的启示。
