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Review
. 2008 Jun;29(3):386-97.
doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2008.03.003. Epub 2008 Mar 28.

Epigenetic mechanisms and the transgenerational effects of maternal care

Frances A Champagne  1
Affiliations
Review

Epigenetic mechanisms and the transgenerational effects of maternal care

Frances A Champagne. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2008 Jun.

Abstract

The transmission of traits across generations has typically been attributed to the inheritance by offspring of genomic information from parental generations. However, recent evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms are capable of mediating this type of transmission. In the case of maternal care, there is evidence for the behavioral transmission of postpartum behavior from mothers to female offspring. The neuroendocrine and molecular mediators of this transmission have been explored in rats and implicate estrogen-oxytocin interactions and the differential methylation of hypothalamic estrogen receptors. These maternal effects can influence multiple aspects of neurobiology and behavior of offspring and this particular mode of inheritance is dynamic in response to environmental variation. In this review, evidence for the generational transmission of maternal care and the mechanisms underlying this transmission will be discussed as will the implications of this inheritance system for offspring development and for the transmission of environmental information from parents to offspring.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Bead-on-string illustration of methylation patterns within the 1b promotor region of ERα in MPOA tissue from offspring of High (n=2) and Low LG (n=2) dams. Black circles indicate the presence of 5-methylcytosine. The columns represent the 14 potential sites of differential methylation within the promotor sequence.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Illustration of the epigenetic transmission of maternal care from mother to offspring through the effects of LG on ERα promotor methylation and consequent ERα gene expression in the MPOA.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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