litter is exposed to the maltreatment condition, 1/3 of the litter remains in the home cage with the biological dam, and the remaining 1/3 of the litter is cross-fostered to a nurturing, non-biological dam. Using this model, our lab has uncovered a number of epigenetic alterations to the Bdnf gene in animals exposed to maltreatment. Because Bdnf is critical in development and its expression is altered in numerous disorders including depression and schizophrenia, Bdnf has emerged as a possible candidate neurobiological link between developmental stress and adult outcomes (Roth and Sweatt, 2011).
