Medical expert of the article
New publications
The chemicals created 100 years ago, gave modern man a stress
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
The increased sensitivity to stress in modern man could appear due to certain chemicals with which our grandparents dealt. Scientists have shown that the influence of chemicals can be transmitted through epigenetic mechanisms through three generations.
Researchers from the University of Texas and the University of Washington (both - the US) have checked whether chemicals can affect the activity of the animal's brain after several generations. To do this, they treated pregnant rats with vinclosolin, a fungicide common in agriculture. It is worth noting that science is already aware of its influence on the hormonal system and the ability to influence through the parents on the genes of offspring. This same team of scientists has previously shown how this fungicide can, through epigenetic mechanisms, influence the activity of genes in the following generations.
This time, after the treatment of rats with vinclosolin, the researchers waited for them from the third generation, with whom they conducted several behavioral experiments. In an article published in the journal PNAS, scientists report that such animals were more sensitive to stress and showed obsessive-anxious behavior. Accordingly, they had more active stress areas of the brain - in comparison with those individuals whose parents were not exposed to the chemical.
In other words, epigenetic changes caused by a fungicide can affect the neurophysiology of the body. In this sense, scientists have been able to connect the molecular level with the physiological level, showing that the action of the substance entails specific changes in physiology and behavior. The authors of the work indicate that the current generation of people is the third generation since the time when the development of chemistry has revolutionized the modern world. In this regard, they propose to think about why we are so stress-dependent. Yes, the world is becoming more complicated and accelerating, the environment is deteriorating, etc. But is there not even a weakening of our own anti-stress barriers and was this weakening laid down in us three generations ago?
The same, according to scientists, can also occur in the case of a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, which are so rich in our time. Of course, the same autism has now been learned to better diagnose. But it is possible that the greatly increased frequency of this disease is associated with certain chemicals, which were influenced by our grandparents - even before doctors and biologists learned to evaluate harm from the latest achievements of applied chemistry.