TY - JOUR A1 - Heinrich, Angela A1 - Buchmann, Arlette F. A1 - Zohsel, Katrin A1 - Dukal, Helene A1 - Frank, Josef A1 - Treutlein, Jens A1 - Nieratschker, Vanessa A1 - Witt, Stephanie H. A1 - Brandeis, Daniel A1 - Schmidt, Martin H. A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - Banaschewski, Tobias A1 - Laucht, Manfred A1 - Rietschel, Marcella T1 - Alterations of Glucocorticoid Receptor Gene Methylation in Externalizing Disorders During Childhood and Adolescence T2 - Behavior genetics : an international journal devoted to research in the inheritance of behavior in animals and man N2 - Epigenetic modulations are a hypothesized link between environmental factors and the development of psychiatric disorders. Research has suggested that patients with depression or bipolar disorder exhibit higher methylation levels in the glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1. We aimed to investigate whether NR3C1 methylation changes are similarly associated with externalizing disorders such as aggressive behavior and conduct disorder. NR3C1 exon 1F methylation was analyzed in young adults with a lifetime diagnosis of an externalizing disorder (N = 68) or a depressive disorder (N = 27) and healthy controls (N = 124) from the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk. The externalizing disorders group had significantly lower NR3C1 methylation levels than the lifetime depressive disorder group (p = 0.009) and healthy controls (p = 0.001) This report of lower methylation levels in NR3C1 in externalizing disorders may indicate a mechanism through which the differential development of externalizing disorders as opposed to depressive disorders might occur. KW - Epigenetic KW - Glucocorticoid receptor KW - Methylation KW - Externalizing disorders KW - Adolescents Y1 - 2015 UR - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/38645 SN - 0001-8244 SN - 1573-3297 VL - 45 IS - 5 SP - 529 EP - 536 PB - Springer CY - New York ER -