Epigenetics developing brain

Nor are the brain and its output exempt from these mechanisms. In the developing brain, as suggested in the previous chapter, neuronal activity-dependent regulation of gene expression may specify neuronal fate and function.12 We may not yet have a superabundance of evidence to support this epigenetic... 

As mentioned above (Section 34.3.4.2) there is growing evidence supporting the hypothesis that schizophrenia is caused by a combination of genetic or epigenetic factors that affect limbic brain structures in the last trimester of development and stress-induced envkonmental influences during the final maturation of these structures late in human adolescence. This two hit idea has led to research directed at two potential targets for cytokine action the effects of cytokines on the... 

Endocannabinoids might act as epigenetic factors, through the activation of cannabinoid receptors which emerge early in development. As to plant-derived cannabinoids, by mimicking the effects of natural ligands of cannabinoid receptors these would interfere with the sequence of events that results in the expression of several genes involved in brain development and, in this way, modify the maturation of several neurotransmitter systems (Ferndndez-Ruiz et al. 1992,1994,1996, 1999,2000). 

The most essential stage in human brain development occurs during the prenatal period and the first four year of life. Just after birth, the intrinsic nature of the individual, including epigenetic and genetic information, combines with extrinsic environmental factors and act in concert to modify brain domains to cope with cognitive, social, linguistic and other... 

During the development of the vertebrate nervous system most, if not all, neuronal populations undergo a period of programmed cell death. During this period neurons depend on the availability of epigenetic factors for their survival (Barde, 1989). Nerve growth factor (NGF) was the first described neurotrophic factor that was able to support the survival of subpopulations of neurons both in vivo and in vitro (see Levi-Montalcini, 1987 for review). However, NGF does not support all neuronal populations, indicating that other neurotrophic factors must also exist. The purification and characterisation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and its similarities to NGF, have led to the discovery of a family of neurotrophic factors now known as the neurotrophins. This review will attempt to cover what is known about the BDNF protein, its site of synthesis and its mechanism of action. 

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