The DOI matches its Crossref record; 179 of the 181 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Epigenetics and the Environmental Regulation of the Genome and Its Function
Abstract
There are numerous examples in psychology and other disciplines of the enduring effects of early experience on neural function. In this article, we review the emerging evidence for epigenetics as a candidate mechanism for these effects. Epigenetics refers to functionally relevant modifications to the genome that do not involve a change in nucleotide sequence. Such modifications include chemical marks that regulate the transcription of the genome. There is now evidence that environmental events can directly modify the epigenetic state of the genome. Thus studies with rodent models suggest that during both early development and in adult life, environmental signals can activate intracellular pathways that directly remodel the "epigenome," leading to changes in gene expression and neural function. These studies define a biological basis for the interplay between environmental signals and the genome in the regulation of individual differences in behavior, cognition, and physiology.
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“activity early in life in the central and peripheral nervous systems and the expressed genome are responsive to experience and adaptive for the context in which development is occurring”
From School Readiness and Self-Regulation: A Developmental Psychobiological Approach (2015) · cites this paper as Zhang & Meaney 2010
In the citing paper
“Postmortem studies show altered DRD2 methylation in the prefrontal cortex and striatum of individuals with schizophrenia”
From The clinical use of epigenetics in psychiatry: a narrative review of epigenetic mechanisms, key candidate genes, and precision psychiatry (2025) · cites this paper as [117]
Citations
Cites
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McGowan, P. O., Sasaki, A., D'Alessio, A. C., Dymov, S., Labonté, B., Szyf, M., Turecki, G., & Meaney, M. J. (2009) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2270 · Cited by 3,531
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Self-citation
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
The brain reward circuitry in mood disorders
Russo, S. J., & Nestler, E. J. (2013) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3381 · Cited by 1,870
Millan, M. J., Agid, Y., Brüne, M., Bullmore, E. T., Carter, C. S., Clayton, N. S., Connor, R., Davis, S., Deakin, B., DeRubeis, R. J., et al. (2012) · Nature Reviews Drug Discovery · doi:10.1038/nrd3628 · Cited by 1,292
School Readiness and Self-Regulation: A Developmental Psychobiological Approach
Blair, C., & Raver, C. C. (2015) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015221 · Cited by 1,240
Oxytocin and social affiliation in humans
Feldman, R. (2012) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.01.008 · Cited by 767
Mechanistic Pathways of Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Disease
Regitz‐Zagrosek, V., & Kararigas, G. (2016) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00021.2015 · Cited by 758
Metadata
- Authors
- Zhang, T.-Y., & Meaney, M. J.
- Affiliations
- Sackler Program for Epigenetics and Psychobiology of McGill University, Douglas Mental Health University Institute and the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Montreal, Quebec, H4H 1R3 Canada;
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CA)
- ORCID
- Meaney, Michael J.
- Venue
- Annual Review of Psychology
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2010-01-01
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 439-466
- ISSN
- 0066-4308 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-2085
- OpenAlex
- W2172126177
- Cited by
- 565
- References
- 181
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 43 · 2013: 53 · 2012: 58
- FWCI
- 3.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annual Review of Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
- Keywords
- epigenetics, early life experience, gene expression, transcriptional regulation, neural function, individual differences in behavior, cognition, rodent models, environmental cues
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Environment, Humans, Maternal Behavior, Genome, Genomic Imprinting, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, DNA Methylation, Epigenesis, Genetic
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