2012年8月28日 訊 /生物谷BIOON/ --在對小鼠開展的一項研究中，美國塔夫斯大學醫(yī)學院研究人員建議道，一名女性患上焦慮癥和社交功能障礙的風險可能依賴于她父母的經歷,，特別是她父親年輕時的經歷。這項研究在線刊登在Biological Psychiatry期刊上,，提示著在年輕時,，長期社會不穩(wěn)定導致的壓力促進精子細胞發(fā)生表觀遺傳變化，這種變化能夠導致多代女性后代患上精神疾病,。
塔夫斯大學醫(yī)學院博士后研究員Lorena Saavedra-Rodríguez博士說,，“壓力的長期影響能夠是有害無益的。我們首先發(fā)現年輕的小鼠處于長期社會不穩(wěn)定---即小鼠籠子組成持續(xù)地發(fā)生變化---之中,，到成年時表現出焦急的行為和較差的社交能力,。這些變化在雌性小鼠中是特別明顯的。”
研究人員然后研究了這些之前處于壓力之下的小鼠的后代,，并且觀察到再次是雌性而不是雄性后代表現出增加的焦慮感和較差的社交能力,。更為顯著的是，即便是處于壓力之下的雄性小鼠并沒有表現出任何這些行為變化,，但是在與沒有處于壓力之下的雌性小鼠交配之后,，它們把這些行為傳遞到它們的雌性后代。此外,，雄性后代也能夠把這些行為傳遞到下一代的雌性后代,。
論文通信作者Larry A. Feig博士說，“我們當前正在尋找處于壓力之下的父本小鼠的精子中的能夠解釋這種遺傳現象的生化變化,。這項研究有望促進人們努力確定類似現象是否能夠適用于人類,。”(生物谷Bioon.com)
本文編譯自Male mice exposed to chronic social stress have anxious female offspring
doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.06.035
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Chronic Social Instability Induces Anxiety and Defective Social Interactions Across Generations
Lorena Saavedra-Rodríguez, Larry A. Feig
Background Chronic social instability during adolescence and early adulthood is known to produce a variety of long-lasting effects that may contribute to future psychiatric disorders. However, its potential to affect future generations has not been tested. Methods Female and male mice were exposed to chronic social stress involving social instability and disruption of social hierarchy from postnatal day 27 to 76. After treatment, a group of animals was used to evaluate long-term behavioral effects of the stress exposure, and other mice were used to generate F1, F2, and F3 offspring, to test for behavioral effects across generations. Results Chronic social instability during adolescence and early adulthood induces persistent behavioral alterations, including enhanced anxiety and social deficits that are transmitted predominantly to females across at least three generations. Both mothers and fathers can transmit all of these altered behaviors to their F1 offspring. However, only F1 fathers transmit all of them to their F2 and F3 daughters. In the F1 generation, enhanced anxiety and social deficits are associated with elevated serum corticosterone levels; however, in the F2 and F3 generations, they are not. Conclusions These findings support the idea that individual risk for psychiatric disorders that involve enhanced anxiety and/or social dysfunction may be dependent not only on the specific alleles of genes that are inherited from one's parents and on one's own experiences, but also on the experiences of one's parents when they were young.
