Glucocorticoid receptor exon 1F methylation and the cortisol stress response in health and disease

Stress is arguably the most common environmental factor leading to psychopathology (Smoller, 2016), and its effects are especially detrimental when occurring during childhood (Carr et al., 2013; Nanni et al., 2012). This persisting impact of stress during development is thought to be partially mediated by epigenetic mechanisms. A seminal study in 2004 proposed the 1F region of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to be of crucial importance in this context (Weaver et al., 2004). Pups of low licking-grooming dams showed higher methylation in the rat ortholog of the 1F region, which was linked to impaired feedback by corticosterone on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in adulthood, irrespective of the genetic background (Weaver et al., 2004).

Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - July 12, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Remmelt R. Sch ür, Judith M.C. van Leeuwen, Lotte C. Houtepen, Marian Joëls, René S. Kahn, Marco P. Boks, Christiaan H. Vinkers Source Type: research