Neuroepigenetics Laboratory, Navarrabiomed Biomedical Research Center- UPNA-Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Navarra, 31008, Spain.
Department of Neurology, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra, 31008, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2020 Mar 12;10(1):4564. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61241-6.
Mindfulness and meditation techniques have proven successful for the reduction of stress and improvement in general health. In addition, meditation is linked to longevity and longer telomere length, a proposed biomarker of human aging. Interestingly, DNA methylation changes have been described at specific subtelomeric regions in long-term meditators compared to controls. However, the molecular basis underlying these beneficial effects of meditation on human health still remains unclear. Here we show that DNA methylation levels, measured by the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip (Illumina) array, at specific subtelomeric regions containing GPR31 and SERPINB9 genes were associated with telomere length in long-term meditators with a strong statistical trend when correcting for multiple testing. Notably, age showed no association with telomere length in the group of long-term meditators. These results may suggest that long-term meditation could be related to epigenetic mechanisms, in particular gene-specific DNA methylation changes at distinct subtelomeric regions.
正念和冥想技术已被证明可有效减轻压力和改善整体健康状况。此外，冥想与长寿和端粒长度延长有关，端粒长度被认为是人类衰老的生物标志物。有趣的是，与对照组相比，长期冥想者的特定亚端粒区域出现了 DNA 甲基化变化。然而，冥想对人类健康的这些有益影响的分子基础仍不清楚。在这里，我们通过 Illumina 公司的 Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip 微阵列检测到，在特定包含 GPR31 和 SERPINB9 基因的亚端粒区域，DNA 甲基化水平与长期冥想者的端粒长度相关，在进行多次检验校正后，具有很强的统计学趋势。值得注意的是，在长期冥想者组中，年龄与端粒长度无关。这些结果可能表明，长期冥想可能与表观遗传机制有关，特别是在特定的亚端粒区域的基因特异性 DNA 甲基化变化。
