Abstract
Epigenetic mechanisms regulating expression of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) promoter may influence behavioral and biological aspects of stress response in human infants. Acoustic features of infant crying are an indicator of neurobehavioral and neurological status not yet investigated in relation to epigenetic mechanisms. We examined NR3C1 methylation in placental tissue from a series of 120 healthy newborn infants in relation to a detailed set of acoustic features extracted from newborn infant cries. We identified significant associations of NR3C1 methylation with energy variation in infants' cries as well as with the presence of very high fundamental frequency in cry utterances. The presence of high fundamental frequency in cry (above 1 kHz) has been linked to poor vocal tract control, poor regulation of stress response, and may be an indicator or poor neurobehavioral integrity. Thus, these results add to evidence linking epigenetic alteration of the NR3C1 gene in the placenta to neurodevelopmental features in infants.
Highlights
Life experiences, beginning in the prenatal period, can result in persistent changes in an individual’s responses to stress and challenge
One commonly studied epigenetic mechanism is DNA methylation, which represents the presence of a methyl group on a cytosine followed by a guanine, known as a CpG site, which often exists in the promoter region of a gene
There is a long history of research linking differences in infant cry acoustics to medical risks and developmental conditions (LaGasse et al, 2005)
Summary
Life experiences, beginning in the prenatal period, can result in persistent changes in an individual’s responses to stress and challenge. Epigenetic changes constitute one mechanism through which structural changes to DNA impact persistent gene expression patterns. There is a growing body of evidence that environmental factors in the pre- and perinatal period impact gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms (Liu et al, 1997; Francis et al, 1999; Weaver et al, 2004). Epigenetic regulation refers to structural alterations of chromatin that impact gene expression without changing the underlying DNA molecular sequence. DNA methylation is one example of an epigenetic mechanism that is linked to gene expression (Bird et al, 1981; Bird, 1984)
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