Chunk #82 — Future Directions: Combining Stress and Alcohol Models and Assessment of Multigenerational Effects and Therapeutics — Multigenerational Effects
Similarly, significant evidence supports that developmental stress can have consequences that are perpetuated across generations. The effects of maternal separation on DNA methylation are not just found in rodents directly exposed to the separation stress, but also in their offspring (Franklin et al., 2010). Cannabinoid receptor-1 (Cnr1), Crfr2, and MeCP2 were found to be differentially methylated in the sperm of F1 males and the brains of their offspring (i.e. the F2 generation). Anxiety and depressive-like behavior were altered across generations and the direction of the change was dependent upon sex and generation. For example, F1 males spent more time immobile in a forced swim test while females showed reduced levels of immobility in the F1 and F2 generations (Franklin et al., 2010). F2 males did not exhibit altered behavior relative to control males, but F3 males exhibited increased immobility comparable to that of F1 males (Franklin et al., 2010). Multigenerational transmission of epigenetic marks have also been found with prenatal stress (Ward et al., 2013), postnatal stress (Roth et al., 2009a), and preconception stress of both the mother (Zaidan et
