  Functional development of affective and reward circuits, cognition and
response inhibition later in life exhibits vulnerability periods during
gestation and early childhood. Extensive evidence supports the model that
exposure to stressors in the gestational period and early postnatal life
increases an individual's susceptibility to future impairments of functional
development. Recent versions of this model integrate epigenetic mechanisms of
the developmental response. Their understanding will guide the future treatment
of the associated neuropsychiatric disorders. A combination of non-invasively
obtainable physiological signals and epigenetic biomarkers related to the
principal systems of the stress response, the Hypothalamic-Pituitary axis (HPA)
and the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), are emerging as the key predictors of
neurodevelopmental outcomes. Such electrophysiological and epigenetic
biomarkers can prove to timely identify children benefiting most from early
intervention programs. Such programs should ameliorate future disorders in
otherwise apparently healthy children. The recently developed Early
Family-Centered Intervention Programs aim to influence the care and stimuli
provided daily by the family and improving parent/child attachment, a key
element for healthy socio-emotional adult life. Although frequently
underestimated, such biomarker-guided early intervention strategy represents a
crucial first step in the prevention of future neuropsychiatric problems and in
reducing their personal and societal impact.
