Science

Bringing whole new meaning to the term "intergenerational trauma"

Link to the actual article published in Molecular Psychiatry: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-024-02872-3

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include harms that affect children indirectly through their living environments (e.g., parental conflict, substance abuse, or mental illness) or directly (abuse and neglect). The direct harms are commonly described as childhood maltreatment exposure (CME). CME is highly prevalent, as shown by a recent systematic review and meta-analysis that reported a pooled prevalence of ca. 23% in Europe and the U.S. for adults who reported at least one ACE [1]. Worldwide, as many as 12% of adults report a history of childhood sexual abuse, 23% of childhood physical abuse, and 36% of emotional abuse [2]. ACEs have numerous adverse consequences for later health, via a range of hormonal, metabolic, and immunological pathways [3], especially for mental health outcomes [2, 4]. In addition to affecting health later in life [5], accumulating evidence indicates that paternal ACEs /CME may also affect the health of the next generation [6,7,8,9,10].

Here, we report that CME [Childhood Maltreatment Exposure] is associated with specific epigenetic signatures in sperm. We identified differential expression of numerous sncRNAs and 3 genomic regions with hypomethylation in the high TADS [Trauma and Distress Scale] score group.

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Intergenerational transmission of well-being, health and disease is an important research topic with many implications for health care and societies. It has been postulated that a key component of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), CME is the single most important preventable risk factor for future mental health [1, 4, 37, 38]. CME has also been shown to have effects on health outcomes even when genetic confounding is taken into account [63]

Hmm, guys, I might not be having my future kids for their sake.

However, it's important to note that this field of research is still in its infancy. Seeing epigenetic changes in sperm does not necessarily mean these changes are passed on to children. In fact, researchers are working very hard to answer that question, Tuulari said.

It has not been confirmed that epigenetic changes can be passed from a human parent to their children, he said. "It has been shown, however, in experimental animal models, including worms and mice."

Therefore, it is too soon to draw any conclusions about the influence of paternal stress on a child's health, Tuulari said. It is also not clear whether the epigenetic changes observed would ultimately have a positive, negative or neutral effect, he added.

Very interesting stuff. I'll have to look out for future studies.