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ABSTRACTS
Mark Barad
James Boehnlein
Mark Bouton
J. Douglas Bremner
Michael Davis
Byron Good
Laurence Kirmayer
Emeran Mayer
Michael Meaney
Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Arieh Shalev
Stephen Suomi
Bessel van der Kolk
Rachel Yehuda
Allan Young

Maternal Care, Gene Expression, and the Transmission of Individual Differences in Stress Reactivity across Generations

Naturally occurring variations in maternal care alter the expression of genes that regulate behavioral and endocrine responses to stress, as well as hippocampal synaptic development. These effects form the basis for the development of stable, individual differences in stress reactivity and certain forms of cognition. Maternal care also influences the maternal behavior of female offspring, an effect that appears to be related to oxytocin receptor gene expression, and which forms the basis for the intergenerational transmission of individual differences in stress reactivity. Patterns of maternal care that increase stress reactivity in offspring are enhanced by stressors imposed on the mother. These findings provide evidence for the importance of parental care as a mediator of the effects of environmental adversity on neural development.

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