Fears and phobias can be inherited
Phobias could be inherited through chemical changes to DNA, according to researchers from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
Their study, published in Nature Neuroscience, finds information learned during traumatic or stressful life experiences could be passed on genetically to subsequent generations, which suggests an underlying cause for the development of irrational phobias and anxieties.
Lab mice were trained to fear the smell of cherry blossom before offspring were conceived. The sons and grandsons of these mice were then tested and found to be extremely sensitive and jumpy to the smell of cherry blossoms, despite never experiencing the odour before. They did not react the same way with other smells.
Dr Brian Dias, who led the study, said: “From a translational perspective, our results allow us to appreciate how the experiences of a parent, before even conceiving offspring, markedly influence both structure and function in the nervous system of subsequent generations.
“Such a phenomenon may contribute to the etiology and potential intergenerational transmission of risk for neuropsychiatric disorders such as phobias, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.”
The research suggests that experiences are somehow transferred from the brain into the genome, allowing them to be passed on to later generations. However more work needs to be done to explore whether similar effects can be seen in the genes of humans.
“Knowing how ancestral experiences influence descendant generations will allow us to understand more about the development of neuropsychiatric disorders that have a transgenerational basis,” said Dr Dias.
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