Severe stress during childhood can increase a person's vulnerability to anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders when new challenges arise later in life. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Princeton University have now identified a biological process that may help explain how early trauma can have such long-lasting effects on the brain.
Researchers have known that stress during early development can alter gene activity in the brain. The new findings suggest that these changes stem partly from the way brain cells package their DNA. By making certain stress-related genes easier to activate, early adversity may leave the brain more reactive and less able to tolerate future stress.
The study was published Aug. 7 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, PhD, 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."
