The trauma of Holocaust survivors is inherited by children

ByDani Vázquez

During the Second World WarHolocaustStudies conducted on those who survived, revealed that children born to parents who experienced genocide were acquired acquired PTSD afterwards.

Holocaust exposure induced intergenerational effects on FKBP5 methylation - Biological Psychiatry
http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(15)00652-6/abstract


Mount Sinai Medical UniversityPTSD(Post-traumatic stress disorder) Dr. Rachel Yehuda in the research department has experienced detention in the concentration camp in Nazi · Germany · person with torture experience · hide in World War II We gathered 32 Jewish men and women who survived the Holocaust, such as those in position, and conducted genetics research. To prove the genetic influence of survivors to the child generation in the study, Dr. Yehuda made a comparison with Jewish families who were outside of Europe during the war.

Dr. thinks that external factors such as smoking, diet, stress may influence children 's genes, "Epigenetics(Epoch-making change) "focused on change.

Previously, Dr. Yehuda 's team has proven that the circulation level of the stress hormone of Holocaust survivors is changing. Survivors are a type of hormone secreted to recover from trauma "Cortisol"Was lower than that of standard adults, and those who became PTSD in the Holocaust had a tendency to further lower the level of cortisol. Why survivors have low cortisol secretion level has not been elucidated, but survivors have found that the secretion level of the enzyme that degrades cortisol is low. It is thought that as a result of the reduction of the activity amount of the enzyme, it becomes possible to accumulate glucose and metabolic fuel to the liver and the kidney to the maximum, and the activity of cortisol becomes active, adapting to the long-term hunger and the threat .

ByChristos Tsoumplekas

In this study, the survivors of children with PTSD found that cortisol levels were low like mothers, but unlike parents, the enzyme that degrades cortisol is at a higher level than the same generation standard It was said that there was. Enzymes that degrade cortisol normally exist at high levels in the placenta during pregnancy, but since the mother's placenta with a small amount of enzyme secretion passes many cortisol through the fetus, in order to protect itself from cortisol, the fetal enzyme It seems that the amount has increased. This means that the external factor received by the parent is inherited by the child.

However, Dr. Yefda explained that epigenetic changes work in order to leave descendants in the same environment as their parents, so in the case of survivors of the Holocaust it may be counterproductive. It is suggested that children who inherited the state of stress hormone to survive from illness and starvation may be susceptible to influence by PTSD in modern times, but children are likely to have genetic influence permanently It is unknown whether to accept it. Based on the results of this research, the experience of the previous generation could be the first step to enable fine tuning of the genes of the next generation.