Consistent with cognitive deficits observed in human populations with a history of early-stress, maternal separation models have likewise found cognitive deficits in rodents and these deficits likely have epigenetic underpinnings. For example, infants exposed to maternal separation demonstrate memory deficits in the Morris water maze test as adults (Wang et al., 2014). This behavioral deficit was seen alongside decreased methylation and increased H3 acetylation of the Crf promoter in the hippocampus (Wang et al., 2014). Blocking CRF signaling rescued memory impairments, suggesting that the epigenetic alterations to Crf were responsible for the stress-induced memory impairments. Further linking epigenetic marking of Crf and memory impairments, environmental enrichment ameliorated both of these effects of stress (Wang et al., 2014). Memory deficits in novel-object recognition have likewise been found in rodents with a history of maternal separation (Moreno Gudiño et al., 2017). This deficit was rescued by consuming a diet rich in the methyl-donor choline in periadolescence. Another studying exploring recognition memory deficits resulting from maternal separation found that administration of a histone deacetylase inhibitor rescued memory deficits and also increased H3 acetylation
