ArticleGenome research2015
Methylomic trajectories across human fetal brain development.
Article in Genome research, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 190 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
190 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 309 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluation of the evidence on acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders using the Navigation Guide methodology.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2025Pooled it
- Associations of maternal night shift work during pregnancy with DNA methylation in offspring: a meta-analysis in the PACE consortium.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Pooled it
- Machine learning techniques for predicting neurodevelopmental impairments in premature infants: a systematic review.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2025Pooled it
- Pesticides and neurodevelopment of children in low and middle-income countries: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Sex effects on DNA methylation affect discovery in epigenome-wide association study of schizophrenia.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Maternal age is related to offspring DNA methylation: A meta-analysis of results from the PACE consortium.Aging cell · 2024Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies on pregnancy vitamin B12 concentrations and offspring DNA methylation.Epigenetics · 2023Pooled it
- Opioid medication use and blood DNA methylation: epigenome-wide association meta-analysis.Epigenomics · 2022Pooled it
- Epigenome-wide association study of global cortical volumes in generation Scotland: Scottish family health study.Epigenetics · 2022Pooled it
- Sex-specific DNA methylation differences in Alzheimer's disease pathology.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2021Pooled it
- A Meta-Analysis of Brain DNA Methylation Across Sex, Age, and Alzheimer's Disease Points for Accelerated Epigenetic Aging in Neurodegeneration.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of blood DNA methylation in newborns and children identifies numerous loci related to gestational age.Genome medicine · 2020Pooled it
- DNA methylation-based measures of biological age: meta-analysis predicting time to death.Aging · 2016Pooled it
- Effects of 6-months of SSRI use on DNA-methylation and gene expression in blood.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Trial
- Folic acid intervention during pregnancy alters DNA methylation, affecting neural target genes through two distinct mechanisms.Clinical epigenetics · 2022Trial
- Global epigenetic immunohistochemical markers reveal developmental connections of distinct cell types during fetal development.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2026Article
- Functional and Transcriptional Downregulation of Glutamate Transporters (EAAT1 and EAAT2) via DNMT3B Overexpression in Glial Cells.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Prenatal cell-free DNA methylome detects association with autism and maternal obesity.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Modeling medulloblastoma pathogenesis and treatment in human cerebellar organoids.Genes & development · 2026Article
- The intersection of neuroscience, socioeconomic status, and preterm birth.Pediatric research · 2026Review
130 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Epigenetic processes play a key role in orchestrating transcriptional regulation during development. The importance of DNA methylation in fetal brain development is highlighted by the dynamic expression of de novo DNA methyltransferases during the perinatal period and neurodevelopmental deficits associated with mutations in the methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2) gene. However, our knowledge about the temporal changes to the epigenome during fetal brain development has, to date, been limited. We quantified genome-wide patterns of DNA methylation at ∼ 400,000 sites in 179 human fetal brain samples (100 male, 79 female) spanning 23 to 184 d post-conception. We identified highly significant changes in DNA methylation across fetal brain development at >7% of sites, with an enrichment of loci becoming hypomethylated with fetal age. Sites associated with developmental changes in DNA methylation during fetal brain development were significantly underrepresented in promoter regulatory regions but significantly overrepresented in regions flanking CpG islands (shores and shelves) and gene bodies. Highly significant differences in DNA methylation were observed between males and females at a number of autosomal sites, with a small number of regions showing sex-specific DNA methylation trajectories across brain development. Weighted gene comethylation network analysis (WGCNA) revealed discrete modules of comethylated loci associated with fetal age that are significantly enriched for genes involved in neurodevelopmental processes. This is, to our knowledge, the most extensive study of DNA methylation across human fetal brain development to date, confirming the prenatal period as a time of considerable epigenomic plasticity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.