ausblenden:
Schlagwörter:
Early-life stress, emotional functions, epigenetic mechanisms, HPA axis, leptin, nutrition
Zusammenfassung:
Clinical and pre-clinical studies have shown that early-life
adversities, such as abuse or neglect, can increase the vulnerability to
develop psychopathologies and cognitive decline later in life.
Remarkably, the lasting consequences of stress during this sensitive
period on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and emotional function
closely resemble the long-term effects of early malnutrition and suggest
a possible common pathway mediating these effects. During early-life,
brain development is affected by both exogenous factors, like nutrition
and maternal care as well as by endogenous modulators including stress
hormones. These elements, while mostly considered for their independent
actions, clearly do not act alone but rather in a synergistic manner. In
order to better understand how the programming by early-life stress
takes place, it is important to gain further insight into the exact
interplay of these key elements, the possible common pathways as well as
the underlying molecular mechanisms that mediate their effects. We here
review evidence that exposure to both early-life stress and early-life
under-/malnutrition similarly lead to life-long alterations on the
neuroendocrine stress system and modify emotional functions. We further
discuss how the different key elements of the early-life environment
interact and affect one another and next suggest a possible role for the
early-life adversity induced alterations in metabolic hormones and
nutrient availability in shaping later stress responses and emotional
function throughout life, possibly via epigenetic mechanisms. Such
knowledge will help to develop intervention strategies, which gives the
advantage of viewing the synergistic action of a more complete set of
changes induced by early-life adversity.
