RESUMO
Over the last years, interest in epigenetic mechanisms has strongly increased in the field of neuroscience. Neuroepigenetics has intensely evolved and now refers to the assessment of a variety of epigenetic marks which can be found across several regions of the healthy or diseased brain. These marks include DNA (hydroxy)methylation, a large diversity of post-translational histone modifications and an increasing number of non-coding RNAs. The present chapter aims to concisely summarize the techniques used to study these mechanisms in the brain and provides an overview of their current challenges along with future perspectives that will allow the field to move forward.
Assuntos
Epigênese Genética , Sistema Nervoso/metabolismo , Projetos de Pesquisa , Metilação de DNA/genética , Humanos , Especificidade de Órgãos/genéticaRESUMO
The development of mental disorders constitutes a complex phenomenon driven by unique social, psychological and biological factors such as genetics and epigenetics, throughout an individual's life course. Both environmental and genetic factors have an impact on mental health phenotypes and act simultaneously to induce changes in brain and behavior. Here, we describe and critically evaluate the current literature on gene-environment interactions and epigenetics on mental health by highlighting recent human and animal studies. We furthermore review some of the main ethical and social implications concerning gene-environment interactions and epigenetics and provide explanations and suggestions on how to move from statistical and epigenetic associations to biological and psychological explanations within a multi-disciplinary and integrative approach of understanding mental health.
