Epigenetic Regulation of the Social Brain.

Trends Neurosci

Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, Regensburg Center of Neuroscience, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany. Electronic address:

Published: July 2019

Social behavior, a highly adaptive and crucial component of mammalian life, is regulated by particularly sensitive regulatory brain mechanisms. Substantial evidence implicates classical epigenetic mechanisms including histone modifications, DNA methylation, and nucleosome remodeling as well as nonclassical mechanisms mediated by noncoding RNA in the regulation of social behavior. These mechanisms collectively form the 'epigenetic network' that orchestrates genomic integration of salient and transient social experiences. Consequently, its dysregulation has been linked to behavioral deficits and psychopathologies. This review focuses on the role of the epigenetic network in regulating the enduring effects of social experiences during early-life, adolescence, and adulthood. We discuss research in animal models, primarily rodents, and associations between dysregulation of epigenetic mechanisms and human psychopathologies, specifically autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2019.04.001DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

regulation social
8
social behavior
8
epigenetic mechanisms
8
social experiences
8
social
5
mechanisms
5
epigenetic
4
epigenetic regulation
4
social brain
4
brain social
4

Similar Publications

Digital Mindfulness Training for Burnout Reduction in Physicians: Clinician-Driven Approach.

JMIR Form Res

January 2025

Brown University, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Providence, RI, United States.

Background: Physician burnout is widespread in health care systems, with harmful consequences on physicians, patients, and health care organizations. Mindfulness training (MT) has proven effective in reducing burnout; however, its time-consuming requirements often pose challenges for physicians who are already struggling with their busy schedules.

Objective: This study aimed to design a short and pragmatic digital MT program with input from clinicians specifically to address burnout and to test its efficacy in physicians.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Successful resolution of approach-avoidance conflict (AAC) is fundamentally important for survival, and its dysregulation is a hallmark of many neuropsychiatric disorders, and yet the underlying neural circuit mechanisms are not well elucidated. Converging human and animal research has implicated the anterior/ventral hippocampus (vHPC) as a key node in arbitrating AAC in a region-specific manner. In this study, we sought to target the vHPC CA1 projection pathway to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) to delineate its contribution to AAC decision-making, particularly in the arbitration of learned reward and punishment signals, as well as innate signals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examined the ability of the following five dynamic models for predicting pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) incidence in a prison setting: the Wells-Riley equation, two Rudnick & Milton-proposed models based on air changes per hour and liters per second per person, the Issarow et al. model, and the applied susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered (SEIR) tuberculosis (TB) transmission model. This 1-year prospective cohort study employed 985 cells from three Thai prisons (one prison with 652 cells as the in-sample, and two prisons with 333 cells as the out-of-sample).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Converging lines of research indicate that inhibitory control is likely to be compromised in contexts that place competing demands on emotional, motivational, and cognitive systems, potentially leading to damaging impulsive behavior. The objective of this study was to identify the neural impact of three challenging contexts that typically compromise self-regulation and weaken impulse control. Participants included 66 healthy adults (M/SD = 29.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The phenomena of father's absence and the disruption of a family unit due to social justice issues like incarceration and mental health/substance misuse challenges are widely documented, and their effects on the whole family are well established in the literature. This paper specifically examines how systemic inequities like racism contribute to destructive entitlements that can occur transgenerationally within families affected by father's absence. The consideration of racial trauma is crucial, as father's absence and family disruption are not limited to any one racial or ethnic group, but the effects are often exacerbated for families of color due to the intersecting impacts of systemic racism.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!