How Your Mom’s Stress Is Now Your Stress (3.5 min)

What about wars such at WWII and Vietnam. I am sure these stressors affected methylation patterns on genes and stress response. Also there is work by Racheal Yehuda who had studied the children of men and women who survived Nazi concentration camps and her work has shown differential methylation patterns in offspring based on whether the mother or father had PTSD and the age of the parent while in the camps.  There are many studies including preclinical studies in Rhesus Monkeys, for example the work by Stephen Soumi on differential DNA methylation and histone binding sites based on early infant rearing patterns - infact 1/4 about 5000 of the genes were differentially methylated in animals exposed to early maternal deprivation vs those with good maternal care. This is important work.  Genes that are protective in one situation - good maternal care are risk genes with negative maternal care. Very important work indeed. Early Experiences matter not just post-natally but anti-natally as well.