Experiencing severe stress during childhood can make a person more vulnerable to anxiety, depression and other mood disorders when faced with hardships as an adult. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Princeton University have uncovered how trauma early in life can leave a lasting effect on the brain.
Scientists already knew that stress early in life changes the activity of genes in the brain. In a new study, the research team discovered that this is due to alterations in how brain cells package DNA, leaving the brain's genetic stress response vulnerable to being easily turned on and reducing tolerance to stress.
The study was published in Neuron.
"We have uncovered a new biological process linking experience of early-life adversity to this long-term vulnerability to mental illness," said Meaghan Creed, Ph.D., an associate professor of anesthesiology at WashU Medicine and the study's co-corresponding author.
"This finding reveals a physical scar left by trauma experienced during development inside brain cells, providing scientists with a concrete biological target to develop new treatments and interventions."
