ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2019
Dynamic DNA methylation changes in the maternal oxytocin gene locus (OXT) during pregnancy predict postpartum maternal intrusiveness.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epigenetics of generalized internet use disorder including data on overuse of social media: a closer look at the SLC6A4, NR3C1 and OXT genes.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Maternal sensitivity supports infant sleep: evidence from two longitudinal prospective cohorts on maternal childhood maltreatment, maternal sensitivity, and infant sleep.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Associations between lifetime history of depression, prenatal OXTR DNA methylation and breastfeeding outcomes.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Observational
- The prospective association of prenatal anxiety symptoms in mothers and fathers with general child development 14 months postpartum and the mediating role of parent-child bonding: a mediation analysis within the longitudinal cohort study DREAM.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Probiotic L. reuteri treatment in stressed rats improves maternal care and corrects corticosterone-BDNF-oxytocin balance offering insights for maternal postpartum distress treatment.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Activation of the Oxytocin System in the Hypothalamic Paraventricular Nucleus Improves Stress-Induced Postpartum Depression-Like Behavior in Rats.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Article
- Grandmotherhood is associated with reduced OXTR DNA methylation.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- The effects of pregnancy, its progression, and its cessation on human (maternal) biological aging.Cell metabolism · 2024Article
- [Research progress on the mechanism of the impact of maternal childhood trauma on intergenerational transmission].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2024Article
- Maternal outcomes related to Genetic and epigenetic Variation in the oxytocin system: A scoping review.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Neurobiological Correlates of Fatherhood During the Postpartum Period: A Scoping Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Evaluating Methylation of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene and the Oxytocin Intergenic Region.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022Article
- Maternal perinatal anxiety and neural responding to infant affective signals: Insights, challenges, and a road map for neuroimaging research.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2021Review
- Reduction in Epigenetic Age Acceleration Is Related to Empathy in Mothers with Neglectful Caregiving.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Implications of Extended Inhibitory Neuron Development.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Early life variations in temperature exposure affect the epigenetic regulation of the paraventricular nucleus in female rat pups.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Review
- Relation of Promoter Methylation of the Oxytocin Gene to Stressful Life Events and Depression Severity.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2020Article
- Early Life Stress Induced DNA Methylation of Monoamine Oxidases Leads to Depressive-Like Behavior.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Maternal behavior (MB) is observable across mammals and represents an important feature of environmental variation during early postnatal development. Oxytocin (OT) plays a crucial role in MB. Even prior to childbirth, pregnancy induces epigenetic and other downstream changes in the maternal OT-system, likely mediated by the actions of steroid hormones. However, little is known about the nature and consequences of epigenetic modifications in the maternal OT-encoding gene (OXT) during pregnancy. Our study aims to investigate temporal dynamics of OXT promoter DNA methylation (DNAm) throughout pregnancy in predicting MB in humans. In 107 mother-child dyads, maternal OXT DNAm was serially analyzed in whole blood in early, mid and late pregnancy. MB was coded based on standardized mother-child interactions at six months postpartum. After controlling for cellular heterogeneity, race/ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status, OXT-promoter DNAm exhibited a dynamic profile during pregnancy (b = 0.026, t=-3.37, p < .001), with decreases in DNAm from early to mid-pregnancy and no further change until late pregnancy. Moreover, dynamic DNAm trajectories of the OXT-promoter region predicted MB (intrusiveness) at six months postpartum (b = 0.006, t = 2.0, p < 0.05), with 6% higher OXT DNAm in late pregnancy in intrusive compared to non-intrusive mothers. We here demonstrate that OXT promoter DNAm changes significantly throughout gestation in peripheral blood and that these changes are associated with variability in MB, providing a novel potential biomarker predicting postnatal MB.
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