Uncovering Childhood Stress Impact on Brain: A MicroRNA Study

Ever wondered how tough childhood experiences affect a person's brain? Researchers recently took a close look at this, using saliva to check out brain-derived microRNAs in teenagers who had been through a lot. These microRNAs are like tiny messengers that can show if certain genes are being affected. The study involved 45 teens, with more than half being males from diverse backgrounds. They had faced an average of six tough experiences, known as adverse childhood experiences or ACEs. The goal was to see if these ACEs changed how their brain genes worked, and saliva samples were used to find out. Out of all the microRNAs found in saliva, 274 showed reliable expression. Fourteen of these were linked to ACE exposure. This means that the more ACEs a teen had faced, the more certain microRNAs changed in their saliva. Some went down, like miR-92b-3p and miR-145a-5p, while others went up, such as miR-15b-5p and miR-30c-5p. Even when considering other factors like how accurately the teens remembered their tough experiences, most of these relationships stuck. When the researchers checked which brain processes these microRNAs were affecting, they found 47 paths involved in brain signaling, development, and inflammation. This study is a starting point. It shows how childhood stress can mess with brain gene expression using these microRNAs. But with a small group of teens, more work is needed to confirm these findings.