Ancestral exposure to toxics can add more stress in great granddaughters' lives

A new study has revealed that ancestral exposure to toxics can add more stress in the great granddaughters' life.

Scientists have known that toxic effects of substances known as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), found in both natural and human-made materials, can pass from one generation to the next, but according to a new study by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Washington State University, females with ancestral exposure to EDC might show especially adverse reactions to stress.

The team said that following exposure to EDCs, which was being passed down from generation to generation was not a change in the genetic code of the animals, but rather a change in the way specific genes are expressed.

David Crews, the Ashbel Smith Professor of Zoology and Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, said that these results should concern everybody because they have been exposed to endocrine disrupting chemicals for decades and they all go through natural challenges in life, in fact those challenges are now being perceived differently because of this ancestral exposure to environmental contamination.

Gene expression was the process by which a cell uses the genetic code to make useful products such as proteins. The observation that changes in gene expression could be passed on to future generations has led to a new field of research known as epigenetics.

Researchers have shown that EDCs could increase the risk in future generations for human illnesses such as autism, obesity and cardiovascular disease. They also noted that environmental levels of EDCs are continuing to rise, as well as the rates of these diseases, particularly mental disorders.

The study is published in the journal Endocrinology.