Epigenomics
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Review
The lasting legacy of social stress on the epigenome of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
Social stress is a major factor contributing to early-life adversity that has taken on an epidemic scale. Early social stress leads to long-lasting changes in behavior, cognition, mood and neuroendocrine responses predisposing to or sheltering from stress-related diseases later in life. ⋯ Thereby, social stress-induced DNA memories mirror the complexity of the stress response and sex differences in brain epigenetics. Timely therapeutic interventions should aim to attenuate early social stress-derived DNA markings and their life-long consequences for mental health.