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An epigenetic pathway approach to investigating associations between prenatal exposure to maternal mood disorder and newborn neurobehavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2018

Elisabeth Conradt ,
Daniel E. Adkins ,
Sheila E. Crowell ,
Catherine Monk  and
Michael S. Kobor
Elisabeth Conradt*
Affiliation:
University of Utah
Daniel E. Adkins
Affiliation:
University of Utah
Sheila E. Crowell
Affiliation:
University of Utah
Catherine Monk
Affiliation:
Columbia University Medical Center New York State Psychiatric Institute
Michael S. Kobor
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Elisabeth Conradt, University of Utah, Department of Psychology, 380 South 1530 East BEHS 602, Salt Lake City, UT 84112; E-mail: elisabeth.conradt@psych.utah.edu.
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Abstract

Following recent advances in behavioral and psychiatric epigenetics, researchers are increasingly using epigenetic methods to study prenatal exposure to maternal mood disorder and its effects on fetal and newborn neurobehavior. Despite notable progress, various methodological limitations continue to obscure our understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms underpinning prenatal exposure to maternal mood disorder on newborn neurobehavioral development. Here we detail this problem, discussing limitations of the currently dominant analytical approaches (i.e., candidate epigenetic and epigenome-wide association studies), then present a solution that retains many benefits of existing methods while minimizing their shortcomings: epigenetic pathway analysis. We argue that the application of pathway-based epigenetic approaches that target DNA methylation at transcription factor binding sites could substantially deepen our mechanistic understanding of how prenatal exposures influence newborn neurobehavior.

Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 30 , Special Issue 3: Developmental Origins of Psychopathology: Mechanisms, Processes, and Pathways Linking the Prenatal Environment to Postnatal Outcomes , August 2018 , pp. 881 - 890
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

This manuscript was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under Award Number R21MH109777 (to S.C. and E.C.), a Career Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse 7K08DA038959-02 (to E.C.), and a grant from the University of Utah Consortium for Families and Health Research. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or the National Institutes of Health.

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