Epigenome of brain cells can tell about mental disorders

The research focuses on the development of the prefrontal cortex in early life. It studies how neural circuits are formed before and immediately after birth, and how environmental factors, including the condition of the mother, can influence brain development through epigenetic changes. Such processes, according to researchers, can lay the foundation for mental and neurodevelopmental disorders that manifest themselves only in adolescence or adulthood.

The work of Behrens’ team shows that mental illnesses do not occur suddenly, but may be the result of abnormalities in fine-tuning gene regulation in specific types of neurons. That is why traditional approaches that consider the brain as a whole are often insufficient.

Detailed epigenomic maps of mouse brain cells have already been created as part of the BRAIN Initiative project, and a similar atlas of the human brain is currently being actively developed. The resources will allow researchers to pinpoint which cell types and regulatory mechanisms are involved in depression, schizophrenia, autism, and other psychiatric disorders.

The future of psychiatry lies in interdisciplinary and collaborative research. Combining neuroscience, genomics, computational methods, and clinical psychiatry opens the way to more accurate diagnosis and personalized treatments based on the molecular causes of the disease, not just the symptoms.