Epigenetics

[giordano]

Good morning,

My name is Magda Giordano, and I am a memeber of the LATP advisory group, and a faculty member at the Instituto de Neurobiologia, where the last LATP was held.

I am posting today a paper on Epigenetics, this is a field that I have recently discovered and I find it intriguing.  My research involves the use of excitotoxic lesions, and exposure to environmental toxicants, and their effects on behavior. For me it is easy to make the connection between an insult to the nervous system and changes in behavior. I can also appreciate the modifying effect of learning and training on neural circuits. However, it is harder for me to conceptualize how the modifications induced by behavior and culture can be transmitted from one generation to another. So I have two questions for you: Are you at all baffled by the possibility of Lamarckian-like effects regarding the physiology of the nervous system? What implications do you see from these findings on neuroscience research?

[eperez4]

Dear professor Giordano, thank you for sharing that article about such an interesting and up to date issue. I was somewhat familiarized with the concept of epigenetics according to Nanney's definition "a second non-genetic system, at the cellular level, that regulates gene expression" It was very enriching to know other definitions of the epigenetic concept that reflect a broader, dynamic and flexible range of action, outside a gene-centric view.

 

The article made me rethink the way nature and nurture interact, not as opposite, exclusive forces that shape life but instead as a highly plastic and dynamic system driving life and evolution.

 

I consider that Lamarckian-like effects in the physiology of the nervous system implies that it has an even greater capacity of adaptation and plasticity because the nervous system has to deal with the changes in external and internal environment ¿do you think that the brain evolves and inherit traits in neuronal circuits at a higher rate thanks to epigenetic mechanisms to cope with the environment and culture?

 

Personally I find very interesting the concept of developmental origins of chronic noncommunicable disease in humans because it is possible to understand multifactorial diseases from a new point of view. In my case I am very interested in knowing if dementias like Alzheimer's disease - where environment and life style have a great impact on its presence and development - are susceptible to be treated with epigenetic therapies. However in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias the critical period where therapies are effective still remains a subject of debate, thus it is an important factor to keep in mind. Honestly I do not know how epigenetics therapies are applied, thus I hope you could shed some light on this subject.

 

Finally, if neuroscience have gained a place in social sciences and policy making thanks to all the tools to study brain processes associated with cognition, perception and behavior -human traits that shape our society- neuroepigenetics goes one step further by bringing into focus the way future generation's physiology is affected by our actions, and if it is possible to inherit brain processes useful for a healthier society and self.

 

Thank you, sincerely yours.            

[Betina Gonzalez]

Hello Dr. Giordano and all the LATP fellows and associates,

I really enjoyed this paper, it´s perfect to read in our context of neuroscience students because it touches not only a scientific debate but a philosophical one, and the long-lasting separation between the biological and the social sciences. For me it's clear that we are heading to reconciliation between nature and nurture with the epigenetic paradigm, but we are still at the very beginning.

Even though we are at the tip of the iceberg some emerging facts are amazing and really leave you thinking. I am particularly interested in paternal transmission of environmental changes through the sperm, since I read a paper by Vassoler et al., Nat Neurosci. 2013;16(1):42-7 about how cocaine-experienced sires pass epigenetic alterations in the BDNF gene to their offspring, and they inherit a cocaine-resistance phenotype. This proves that we may not only be susceptible to epigenetic effects during critical windows of development, but to inherited ones from our fathers' stress histories.

For your first question the answer is yes, I think there is accumulating evidence of Lamarckian-like mechanisms that explain some aspects of the cells functions, and the most immediate implications for neuroscience research that I see is the epigenetic pathophysiology of neurological diseases and of the drugs to treat them as well. It was observed that the repeated administration of psychotropic drugs triggers epigenetic compensations that restrain the drug effects in the long term, and you can improve the outcome by co-administration of other drugs that prevent these epigenetic changes (if you are interested see Kurita et al., Nat Neurosci. 2012 15(9):1245-54).

I really hope that in the future we will be able to build more interdisciplinary approaches between the biological and the social sciences to understand our "social brain", how to deal with our inherited traits, and to realize that social politics may affect the future generations in a more profound way that we had previously imagined.