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Mothering style and methylation

Nature Neuroscience volume 7, pages 791–792 (2004)Cite this article

Frequent licking and grooming by rat mothers increases the number of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors in their pups, leading to tighter regulation of stress hormone levels. A study in this issue shows that this treatment alters DNA methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene and acetylation of histones early in life, providing a mechanism for these permanent changes in stress responses.

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Figure 1: A cascade by which a constellation of traits in the adult rat is induced by the mothering style to which the rat was exposed as a pup.

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  1. Departments of Biological Sciences, Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, 94305-5020, California, USA

    Robert M Sapolsky

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  1. Robert M Sapolsky
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Sapolsky, R. Mothering style and methylation. Nat Neurosci 7, 791–792 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0804-791

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