Analysis of DNA methylation changes and behavioural outcomes in adulthood induced by prenatal exposure to a mixture of endocrine disrupting chemicals

Abstract: Endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, are some of the most prevalent toxic chemicals found in the environment because of human activity and they have a variety of adverse effects on both humans and wildlife. A proposed mechanism through which EDCs can negatively affect an organism is via an epigenetic mechanism known as DNA methylation, which can affect the development of the organism with negative outcomes later in life. The aim of this project was to investigate the effect of a prenatal exposure to mixture of EDCs, called Mixture N1, and its adverse effects. Mixture N1 has in a previous study been detected in the first semester of mothers, and linked to language delay in the offspring in the SELMA cohort study. We investigated relationships with DNA methylation pattern changes in key genes with exposure, gene expression and behaviour in the adult brains of the exposed mice.  Our results showed correlative as well as linear relationships between methylation and different behavioural outcomes for target genes. One gene in particular - Nr3c1 - stood out among the results, having links to both stress and sociability. Specifically, DNA methylation of this gene correlates to active stress coping behaviours as well as sociability, but with no mediation component in these relationships. These results are promising for the use of methylation analysis as a biomarker of EDC mixture exposure, but more so as a predictor of negative behavioural outcomes later in life. More research could strengthen this use, and uncover the mechanism through which methylation alone might affect changes in behaviour.