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Limitations to intergenerational inheritance: subchronic paternal stress preconception does not influence offspring anxiety
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2020), Scientific Reports
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Independent studies have observed that a paternal history of stress or trauma is associated with his children having a greater likelihood of developing psychopathologies such as anxiety disorders. This father-to-child effect is reproduced in several mouse models of stress, which have been crucial in developing a greater understanding of intergenerational epigenetic inheritance. We previously reported that treatment of C57Bl/6J male breeders with low-dose corticosterone (CORT) for 28 days prior to mating yielded increased anxiety-related behaviours in their male F1 offspring. The present study aimed to determine whether subchronic 7-day CORT treatment of male mice just prior to mating would be sufficient to induce intergenerational modifications of anxiety-related behaviours in offspring. We report that subchronic CORT treatment of male breeders reduced their week-on-week body weight gain and altered NR3C1 and CRH gene expression in the hypothalamus. There were no effects on sperm count and glucocorticoid receptor protein levels within the epididymal tissue of male breeders. Regarding the F1 offspring, screening for anxiety-related behaviours using the elevated-plus maze, light–dark box, and novelty-suppressed feeding test revealed no differences between the offspring of CORT-treated breeders compared to controls. Thus, it is crucial that future studies take into consideration the duration of exposure when assessing the intergenerational impacts of paternal health.
- Subjects :
- Male
0301 basic medicine
endocrine system
Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone
Offspring
lcsh:Medicine
Physiology
Anxiety
Biology
Article
Epigenesis, Genetic
Fathers
Mice
03 medical and health sciences
chemistry.chemical_compound
Corticotropin-releasing hormone
Receptors, Glucocorticoid
0302 clinical medicine
Corticosterone
medicine
Animals
Mating
lcsh:Science
Paternal Inheritance
Multidisciplinary
Behavior, Animal
lcsh:R
Endocrine system and metabolic diseases
Anxiety Disorders
Sperm
Mice, Inbred C57BL
030104 developmental biology
chemistry
lcsh:Q
medicine.symptom
Stress and resilience
Stress, Psychological
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Glucocorticoid
medicine.drug
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 10
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....9efe87638a44f2d85a93a55ddd4d73fe