Chunk #85 — Future Directions: Combining Stress and Alcohol Models and Assessment of Multigenerational Effects and Therapeutics — Therapeutic Strategies
The epigenome remains malleable throughout the lifespan; consequently, outcomes of developmental alcohol or stress exposure are potentially reversible by altering the adult epigenome. Current evidence supports the efficacy of nutritional, behavioral, and pharmacological strategies as a means to induce epigenetic modifications and normalize brain function in the adult. Otero et al. (2012) reported that choline supplementation during and after postnatal alcohol exposure reduced hypermethylation in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Choline has positive effects on behavioral and neuroanatomical measures in rat models of FASD (Thomas et al., 2007; Thomas et al., 2004; Thomas and Tran, 2012); these data together suggest that one of its mechanisms of action might be through epigenetic processes. Deficits on novel object and place recognition caused by early life stress can also be reversed through choline supplementation during periadolescence (Moreno Gudiño et al., 2017). Supplementation with a methyl-rich diet had beneficial effects on pup mortality rates, prenatal growth, and rate of vertebral and digit malformations in mice prenatally exposed to alcohol, though further work is needed to link this diet with gene-specific methylation changes (Downing et
