Genetic Link to Child Abuse Effects
Child abuse may have longer-lasting effects on the brain than previously thought. A new study looked at men who had been abused as children. In this study, scientists were able to locate a gene involved in stress control that seems to be affected, even years after the abuse, which seems to follow the same pattern as a similar gene linked to stress levels in abused rats.
Child abuse here is defined as maternal neglect. In the past, studies on maternally neglected rats revealed that more stressed baby rats are unable to turn off the hormone that is released in response to stress, therefore, they are unable to calm themselves down. The hypothalmic-pituitary-gland (HPA) axis, is a part of your endocrine system that is responsible for secreting hormones in response to stress. The glucocorticoid receptor is responsible for slowing down the HPA response and lowering the stress levels. Scientists have claimed in previous studies that matneral negelect alters the regularotry region of the gene responsible for the glucocorticoid receptor, making it malfunction and not do it's job - not lowering the hormones put out by the HPA.
Scientists have now idtentified a very simular type of situation in humans. In Montreal, Canada, at the University of McGill, Neuroscientist Michael Meany and his colleagues compared the brains of dead men who had been abused and killed themselves to non-abused men who had killed themselves and non-abused men who had died from natural causes. These scientist found the same pattern of non-expression of the gene responsible for the glucocorticoid receptor in abused rats and in the abused men. This change was not seen in the other two groups, which further supports the idea of abuse causing a change in genetic expression.
This study helps in finding out the causes of health problems in adulthood of those who have been abused. The Neurologist Michael Meany was quoted in saying that in the past decade there has been accumulating evidence "that abused indivudals are less healthy in adulthood." Apparently, besides emotion problems, people who have been abused suffer from "obesity, heart disease and autoimmune disorders". This study certinaly helps find out why.
Posted by Maura Mulvey (group C, week 3)
posted by PWH @ 8:52 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Maura,
Nice blog! It’s sad to know that mums all over the world are in fact neglecting their children and abusing them physically and mentally. Most of them are under stress, and probably because they themselves were abused as children. The worst part is that those little kids getting the abuse will turn out either like their mum or worse, not because that’s how they were brought up, but because of an altered gene due to the way they were brought up. I remember in genetics we got an example of mamma rats neglecting her young, and how that led to them being able to fend for themselves in needy times. However, that kept getting passed on, and even when it wasn’t necessary, the poor rats were stressed all the time.
-Sarah Bello
This was a really interesting topic. People always bring up the fact that abused children are more likely to grow up to become abusers themselves. Maybe this offers a scientific explanation to the cycle.
(Jane de Verges)
Interesting blog, Its scary how not being taken care of as a child can really mentally change you as an adult. I wonder how early this can actually affect the gene or if the child can prevent its stress levels some how by going to a counselor etc, if the deterioration of this gene can be slowed or stopped.
-Emily Bell
Maura,
Your blog is a very interesting. However, I believe that this is a very controversial topic. As you stated, “the scientists compared the brains of dead men who had been abused and killed themselves to non-abused men who had killed themselves and non-abused men who had died from natural causes.” What criterion was employed by the experimenters to determine whether or not the dead men were abused? Also, there may have been other factors that could have altered the regulatory region of the gene responsible for the glucocorticoid receptor. Has there been any further research conducted to support this idea of abuse causing a change in genetic expression?
Saad Choudhry
this is a very interesting article. I have found that there are also connections between abuse and learning neurons that do not properly develop during childhood. this may be another avenue to explore. Great article.
Rachael Carlevale
This is really interesting. It has always been theorized that children who were abused grow up to have emotional problems but to find out it actually changes certain genes and physically alters the person is unbelievable. Since we known what gene is being altered will it now be possible to fix it and "cure" adults who were abused?
-Willow Alves
I don't even know what to say besides I hate that people are allowed to abuse and stress out baby rats just to do research on stuff like this.
emily ayotte
This seems to be a good lead on a serious topic. People are always wondering about where abused children end up and whether or not it will affect their adult lives. Perhaps there's some more research on this subject that is answering some of those questions. This particular study was done in men, were there any differences with women?
Crystal Cabral
nice blog. it's interesting to see how environmental factors are able to turn a gene on or off. but i was wondering how does neglect start in the first place? was it a mutation that started then spread?
-Lysander Ning
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