Project: Pre-, peri- and postnatal Stress in human and non-human offspring: a translational approach to study Epigenetic Impact on DepressiON

Exposure to adversity in early life contributes to later disease with regulation of gene expression mediating effects of early life stress (ELS) on adult behavior and health. Project 1 will characterize 400 children with umbilical cord blood and mucosal swabs (at birth, age of 6 months) for analysis of DNA methylation. Also, protective environments (attachment, breastfeeding) will be examined. Project 2 will study non-human primates (nursery vs. maternal rearing) allowing access to prefrontal cortex and T cells. Longitudinal data will provide a causal/temporal relationship between ELS and DNA methylation and will allow establishing which of early changes remain permanent. The methylome maps will be compared with human data, will inform on peripheral epigenetic responses to ELS, how they relate to behavior and brain methylomes and how they affect phenotype. A collection of brain and peripheral biomarkers will be generated. Project 3 combines subprojects investigating epigenetic effects of pre- and postnatal environmental modifications in rodents: prenatal stress, asphyxia, caesarean, variations of maternal care, enriched environment, early weaning. This approach allows behavioral analysis of the adult phenotype evoked by ELS and analyses at epigenetic and expression level. Rodent studies allow generating a detailed picture on point of time and type of stressor to impact on the methylome. The animal studies allow analysis of tissue-, stressor-, time-specific epigenetic effects.

Acronym	POSEIDON
Duration	01/02/2011 - 31/01/2014
Network	NEURON
Call	NEURON-2010 Mental Disorders

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit	Coordinator	Germany
2	Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit	Partner	Germany
3	McGill University	Partner	Canada
4	University of Milan	Partner	Italy