Ricerc@Sapienza

Dynamic interactions between genes and environment during early life experiences can result in different psychobiological pathways in adulthood. Evidences from animal studies showed a direct link between the maternal care environment and long-term effects on neural systems. Such neurobiological effects seem to be, partially, mediated by epigenetic changes that allow to alter the activity of some genes, without modifying the inherited nucleotide sequences. General purpose of this project is to investigate whether early interactions between the parents and their infant are correlated with epigenetic changes in a specific set of genes. The aim is to test whether, since birth, a low degree of reciprocity in the interaction between caregiver and newborn and the resulting attachment style are associated with a specific epigenetic expression pattern of a pool of candidate genes related to major developmental psychopathologies.
50 newborns with both their own parents will be enrolled at the Obstetric Unit of the Santo Spirito in Sassia Hospital, Rome. The study will involve 4 different time-frames: Time 0, before the childbirth; Time 1, 48 hours after the childbirth; Time 2, at the first month; Time 3, at third month. At Time 0, the informed consent will be collected, and the prenatal attachment toward the fetus of both parents will be evaluated. At each time frame, psychological dimensions of the parents and the interaction between parents and newborn will be audio-video recorded in order to subsequently codify the quality of the interactions. Moreover, at each assessment sessions a biological sample (saliva) will be collected both from parents and the newborn using a buccal swab, in order to analyze DNA methylation mechanisms of a pool of candidate genes. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate, in systematic way, the importance of the relational and psychological variables on the epigenome in humans.