Cargando…
Pain-related stress during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay and SLC6A4 methylation in very preterm infants
Very preterm (VPT) infants need long-lasting hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) during which they are daily exposed to pain-related stress. Alterations of DNA methylation at the promoter region of the SLC6A4 have been associated with early adverse experiences in infants. The...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2015
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4403508/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25941480 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00099 |
_version_ | 1782367338296770560 |
---|---|
author | Provenzi, Livio Fumagalli, Monica Sirgiovanni, Ida Giorda, Roberto Pozzoli, Uberto Morandi, Francesco Beri, Silvana Menozzi, Giorgia Mosca, Fabio Borgatti, Renato Montirosso, Rosario |
author_facet | Provenzi, Livio Fumagalli, Monica Sirgiovanni, Ida Giorda, Roberto Pozzoli, Uberto Morandi, Francesco Beri, Silvana Menozzi, Giorgia Mosca, Fabio Borgatti, Renato Montirosso, Rosario |
author_sort | Provenzi, Livio |
collection | PubMed |
description | Very preterm (VPT) infants need long-lasting hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) during which they are daily exposed to pain-related stress. Alterations of DNA methylation at the promoter region of the SLC6A4 have been associated with early adverse experiences in infants. The main aim of the present work was to investigate the association between level of exposure to pain-related stress during hospitalization and changes in SLC6A4 DNA methylation at NICU discharge in VPT infants. In order to exclude the potential effect of birth status (i.e., preterm vs. full-term birth) on SLC6A4 methylation, we preliminarily assessed SLC6A4 epigenetic differences between VPT and full-term (FT) infants at birth. Fifty-six VPT and thirty-two FT infants participated in the study. The level of exposure to pain-related stress was quantified on the basis of the amount of skin-breaking procedures to which they were exposed. VPT infants were divided in two sub-groups: low-pain exposure (LPE, N = 25) and high-pain exposure (HPE, N = 31). DNA methylation was evaluated at birth for both VPT and FT infants, assessing 20 CpG sites within the SLC6A4 promoter region. The same CpG sites were re-evaluated for variations in DNA methylation at NICU discharge in LPE and HPE VPT infants. No differences in SLC6A4 CpG sites' methylation emerged between FT and VPT infants at birth. Methylation at CpG sites 5 and 6 significantly increased from birth to NICU discharge only for HPE VPT infants. Findings show that preterm birth per se is not associated with epigenetic alterations of the SLC6A4, whereas higher levels of pain-related stress exposure during NICU stay might alter the transcriptional functionality of the serotonin transporter gene. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4403508 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-44035082015-05-04 Pain-related stress during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay and SLC6A4 methylation in very preterm infants Provenzi, Livio Fumagalli, Monica Sirgiovanni, Ida Giorda, Roberto Pozzoli, Uberto Morandi, Francesco Beri, Silvana Menozzi, Giorgia Mosca, Fabio Borgatti, Renato Montirosso, Rosario Front Behav Neurosci Neuroscience Very preterm (VPT) infants need long-lasting hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) during which they are daily exposed to pain-related stress. Alterations of DNA methylation at the promoter region of the SLC6A4 have been associated with early adverse experiences in infants. The main aim of the present work was to investigate the association between level of exposure to pain-related stress during hospitalization and changes in SLC6A4 DNA methylation at NICU discharge in VPT infants. In order to exclude the potential effect of birth status (i.e., preterm vs. full-term birth) on SLC6A4 methylation, we preliminarily assessed SLC6A4 epigenetic differences between VPT and full-term (FT) infants at birth. Fifty-six VPT and thirty-two FT infants participated in the study. The level of exposure to pain-related stress was quantified on the basis of the amount of skin-breaking procedures to which they were exposed. VPT infants were divided in two sub-groups: low-pain exposure (LPE, N = 25) and high-pain exposure (HPE, N = 31). DNA methylation was evaluated at birth for both VPT and FT infants, assessing 20 CpG sites within the SLC6A4 promoter region. The same CpG sites were re-evaluated for variations in DNA methylation at NICU discharge in LPE and HPE VPT infants. No differences in SLC6A4 CpG sites' methylation emerged between FT and VPT infants at birth. Methylation at CpG sites 5 and 6 significantly increased from birth to NICU discharge only for HPE VPT infants. Findings show that preterm birth per se is not associated with epigenetic alterations of the SLC6A4, whereas higher levels of pain-related stress exposure during NICU stay might alter the transcriptional functionality of the serotonin transporter gene. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-04-21 /pmc/articles/PMC4403508/ /pubmed/25941480 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00099 Text en Copyright © 2015 Provenzi, Fumagalli, Sirgiovanni, Giorda, Pozzoli, Morandi, Beri, Menozzi, Mosca, Borgatti and Montirosso. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Neuroscience Provenzi, Livio Fumagalli, Monica Sirgiovanni, Ida Giorda, Roberto Pozzoli, Uberto Morandi, Francesco Beri, Silvana Menozzi, Giorgia Mosca, Fabio Borgatti, Renato Montirosso, Rosario Pain-related stress during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay and SLC6A4 methylation in very preterm infants |
title | Pain-related stress during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay and SLC6A4 methylation in very preterm infants |
title_full | Pain-related stress during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay and SLC6A4 methylation in very preterm infants |
title_fullStr | Pain-related stress during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay and SLC6A4 methylation in very preterm infants |
title_full_unstemmed | Pain-related stress during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay and SLC6A4 methylation in very preterm infants |
title_short | Pain-related stress during the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay and SLC6A4 methylation in very preterm infants |
title_sort | pain-related stress during the neonatal intensive care unit stay and slc6a4 methylation in very preterm infants |
topic | Neuroscience |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4403508/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25941480 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00099 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT provenzilivio painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT fumagallimonica painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT sirgiovanniida painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT giordaroberto painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT pozzoliuberto painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT morandifrancesco painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT berisilvana painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT menozzigiorgia painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT moscafabio painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT borgattirenato painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants AT montirossorosario painrelatedstressduringtheneonatalintensivecareunitstayandslc6a4methylationinverypreterminfants |