Methylation and the human brain: towards a new discipline of imaging epigenetics

摘要

The field of imaging genetics traditionally studies unidirectional associations between genes, brain functioning, and behavior. In a recent study by Ursini et al. (J Neurosci 31:6692–6698, 2011), imaging genetics methods are combined with epigenetic marks in living human beings. This approach may lead to a new field of imaging epigenetics, providing more mechanistic insight into causal pathways of how gene and environment interact and affect brain development.