(or decrease) risk for psychopathology by modifying the same gene in different ways and how such mechanisms may overlap with prenatal smoke exposure. Abnormal methylation upstream of one BDNF exon may change the ultimate expression of BDNF and thus play a role in altering downstream pathways important for proper brain development and plasticity (Toledo-Rodriguez et al., 2010). Future studies using primary brain tissue may prove challenging but essential in determining the role of BDNF and related biological pathways in brain development and later behavior.
