Behavioral neuroscience, maternal behavior, epigenetics

Prof Champagne’s main research interest concerns how genetic and environmental factors interact to regulate maternal behavior, and how natural variations in this behavior can shape the behavioral development of offspring through epigenetic changes in gene expression in a brain region specific manner.

During her doctoral work in Prof Michael Meaney’s lab at McGill University, Montreal, Prof Champagne explored the role of estrogen-oxytocin interactions in regulating natural variations in maternal care and the generational transmission of this behavior. This investigation implicated natural variations in estrogen receptor expression in mediating differences in estrogen sensitivity between mothers who exhibit high vs. low levels of maternal investment. This research also demonstrated that nucleus accumbens dopamine activity was critical in generating these differences in maternal behavior between females. Significantly, daughters inherit the estrogen receptor expression of their mothers in a non-genomic fashion permitting the trans-generational inheritance of maternal care. Moreover, Prof Champagne demonstrated the role of environmental factors in regulating behavior, in particular the effects of gestational stress and social interaction in regulating hypothalamic oxytocin receptor density and hence maternal behavior.

Prof Champagne has further researched epigenetic sources of behavioral variation in her post-doctoral work at the University of Cambridge. Using various mouse models, Prof Champagne has investigated the genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors that are important in regulating maternal care and offspring development in this species. Prof Champagne’s current and future research will focus on 1) investigating the epigenetic mechanisms via which individual variation in reproductive, social and addictive behavior can be induced via variation in early life experiences, and 2) investigating the epigenetic mechanisms via which offspring may overcome or be resilient to such early life experiences.

Champagne FA, Weaver IC, Diorio J, Dymov S, Szyf M, Meaney MJ, (in press) Maternal care associated with methylation of the estrogen receptor alpha 1b promoter and estrogen receptor alpha expression in the medial preoptic area of female offspring. Endocrinology.

Champagne FA, Meaney MJ, (in press) Links Stress During Gestation Alters Postpartum Maternal Care and the Development of the Offspring in a Rodent Model., Biol Psychiatry.

Champagne FA, Curley JP, (2005) How social experiences influence the brain. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 15(6):704-9.

Champagne F, Francis DD., Mar A, Meaney MJ, (2003) Naturally-occurring variations in maternal care in the rat as a mediating influence for the effects of environment on the development of individual differences in stress reactivity. Physiology & Behavior, 79:359-371.

• W2480 The Developing Brain
• W3435 Neurobiology of Reproductive Behavior