Table 2.
Parental stress affects GR gene methylation
| Study | Experimental Group |
Species | Sex (% male) |
Sample size | DNA Methylation Assessment | Tissue(s) | Age at Sample Collection |
16 | 17 | NGFI-A site? | 110 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study Animal | 1 Mueller et al. 2008 (44) | Offspring of 7-day stress-exposed dams (early, mid and late gestation) | Mouse | 100 | 4–5 animals per group | Sodium bisulfite treatement (EZ DNA Methylation Kit, Zymo Research) + pyrosequencing (PSQ HS96 Pyrosequencing system, Biotage) | Brain | 4 months | ↑a | Y |
| Study | Experimental Group | Sex (% male) | Sample size | DNA Methylation Assessment | Tissue(s) | Age at Sample Collection | 1D | 1J | 1E | 1B | 1F | NGFI-A site? | 1C | 1H | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human Peripheral Studies | 2 Oberlander et al. 2008 (20) | Third trimester maternal depressed/anxious mood | SRI exposed: 44 Depressed, no SRI: 42 Control: 48 |
SRI exposed: 33 Depressed, no SRI: 13 Control: 36 |
Bisulfite treatment (EpiTect Bisulfite Kit, Qiagen) + pyrosequencing (PyroMark MD System, Biotage) | Cord blood | At birth | ↑b | Y | |||||||
| 3 Radtke et al. 2011 (46) | Intimate partner violence during pregnancy | 32 | 25 | Sodium bisulfite treatment (Frommer 1992) + sequencing (BigDye Terminator 3.1 Cycle Sequencing Kit, Applied Biosystems) | Blood | Mother: 25.2 (mean) Child: 14.1 (mean) |
↑ | Y | ||||||||
| 4 Mulligan et al. 2012 (47) | Exposure to varying degree of maternal stressors - war stress | Not reported | 25 mother-child dyads | Sodium bisulfite treatment (EZ DNA Methylation Kit, Zymo Research) + sequencing (Applied Biosystems) | Cord blood | At birth | ↑ | Y | ||||||||
| 5 Hompes et al. 2013 (45) | Pregnancy-related anxiety over 3 trimesters | Not reported | 83 mother-child dyads | Sodium bisulfite treatment (MethylDetector Bisulfite Modification Kit, ActiveMotif) + EpiTYPER (Sequenom) | Cord blood | At birth | ↑c | ↓d | ↑/↓e | Y | ||||||
| 6 Conradt et al. 2013 (28) | In utero exposure to maternal mood-disorder | Depression: 48.5 Anxiety: 45.6 Healthy: 48.2 |
Depression: 66 Anxiety: 57 Healthy: 398 |
Bisulfite treatment (Pyromark PCR Kit, Qiagen) + pyrosequencing (PyroMark MD, Qiagen) | Placenta | At birth | ↑f | Y | ||||||||
| 7 Essex et al. 2013 (27) | Childhood stress exposure | 45 | 109 | Sodium bisulfite treatment (EZ DNA Methylation Kit, Zymo Research) + Infinium Human Methylation 27 BeadChip Assay (Illumina) | Buccal epithelium | 15.1 (mean) | no Δg | |||||||||
| 8 Perroud et al. 2014b (48) | Women exposed to the Tutsi genocide during pregnancy and their children | Non-exposed: 48 Exposed: 36 |
Exposed mother-child dyads: 25 Non-exposed mother- child dyads: 25 |
Sodium bisulfite treatment (EZ Methylation Gold-Kit, Zymo Research) + pyrosequencing (PSQ 96 Gold reagent kit, Biotage) | Blood | Mothers: 39–52h Children: 17–18 |
↑i | Y | ||||||||
| 9 Yehuda et al. 2014 (49) | Parental exposure to the Holocaust | No parental PTSD: 48 Paternal PTSD: 36 Maternal PTSD: 18 Bi-paternal PTSD: 19 |
No parental PTSD: 31 Paternal PTSD: 11 Maternal PTSD: 22 Bi-parental PTSD: 31 |
EpiTect Bisulfite Kit, Qiagen) + sequencing (Genewiz) | Blood | None: 57.13 (mean) Paternal: 47.64 (mean) Maternal: 57.36 (mean) Both: 58.68 (mean) |
↑/ ↓j | Y |
a
Early gestation group only; CpGs -523 & -496.
b
CpG 1–3, NFGI-A site.
c
CpG 12 & 13 with fear of delivery all trimesters; CpG 25 & 28 with fear of integrity of the baby T1.
d
CpG 6 with fear of delivery.
e
Site- and parameter-specific: CpG 38/39 (near NGFI-A site) ↓ with fear of changes T1 & 2; CpG 36 ↑ with fear of integrity T1 & 2; CpG 36 ↑ with fear of delivery T3.
f
CpG2, depression only.
g
indicates a sampling downstream of region 1H, within the gene body.
h
Mother’s ages estimated based on age at birth (28+/−6) and the age of children at assessment.
i
Total region for children; CpGs 1, 5 & 8 for mothers.
j
↑ methylation with paternal PTSD only in the absence of maternal PTSD.