The Raelian Movement
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Early Life Experience Modifies Gene Vital to Normal Brain Function
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100928171551.htm
ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2010) — Early life stress, such as an extreme
lack of parental affection, has lasting effects on a gene important to
normal brain processes and also tied to mental disorders, according to
a new animal study in the Sept. 29 issue of The Journal of
Neuroscience.
In the last decade, researchers have found evidence that experiences
can alter the form and structure of DNA, an effect known as
epigenetics. Because these changes affect genes, events early in life
have the potential to make a lasting impact on behavior and health.
Recent studies focused on cancer and obesity have already shown the
power of epigenetics.
In a study led by Tie-Yuan Zhang, PhD, of McGill University,
researchers investigated whether these changes might apply to the
activity of genes in brain regions that control neural function and
mental health. The authors explored how differences in a mother's
attention affect the GAD1 gene, which controls the production of a
chemical vital to brain cell communication called GABA. Research
indicates that GABA helps to regulate emotion, and that people with
schizophrenia may have GABA deficits.
The authors studied the maternal behavior of rats specifically bred to
be either extremely caring or rarely affectionate. They found when the
baby rats that were seldom touched grew up, specific regions of the
DNA that controls the GAD1 gene were obstructed, likely leading to
smaller amounts of GABA. On the other hand, adult rats coddled in the
extreme as pups showed increased GAD1 gene production.
"A critical feature for the effect on gene GAD1 is that the immediate
influence of maternal care is limited to a short period following
birth, but the resulting changes are long-lasting, even into
adulthood," Zhang said.
These findings suggest that the early life environment can drive
molecular changes that affect brain function and might determine a
child's predisposition to mental illness.
"We already knew that maternal care determined the stress responses of
an offspring through a similar process, but this is the first time
maternal care has been shown to link, via epigenetics, with a key
enzyme that causes a major human disorder," said Jonathan Seckl, MD,
PhD, of The University of Edinburgh, and an expert on the molecular
process of hormones.
The research was supported by the National Alliance for Research on
Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders and by funding from the Canadian
Institutes for Health Research and the National Institute of Child
Health and Development.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by
ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Society for
Neuroscience, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Journal Reference:
1. T.-Y. Zhang, I. C. Hellstrom, R. C. Bagot, X. Wen, J. Diorio, M.
J. Meaney. Maternal Care and DNA Methylation of a Glutamic Acid
Decarboxylase 1 Promoter in Rat Hippocampus. Journal of Neuroscience,
2010; 30 (39): 13130 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1039-10.2010
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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