Search results for "Offspring"

Maternal eNOS deficiency determines a fatty liver phenotype of the offspring in a sex dependent manner

2016

ABSTRACT Maternal environmental factors can impact on the phenotype of the offspring via the induction of epigenetic adaptive mechanisms. The advanced fetal programming hypothesis proposes that maternal genetic variants may influence the offspring's phenotype indirectly via epigenetic modification, despite the absence of a primary genetic defect. To test this hypothesis, heterozygous female eNOS knockout mice and wild type mice were bred with male wild type mice. We then assessed the impact of maternal eNOS deficiency on the liver phenotype of wild type offspring. Birth weight of male wild type offspring born to female heterozygous eNOS knockout mice was reduced compared to offspring of wil…

Maternal inflammation has a profound effect on cortical interneuron development in a stage and subtype-specific manner

2018

AbstractSevere infections during pregnancy are one of the major risk factors for cognitive impairment in the offspring. It has been suggested that maternal inflammation leads to dysfunction of cortical GABAergic interneurons that in turn underlies cognitive impairment of the affected offspring. However, the evidence comes largely from studies of adult or mature brains and how the impairment of inhibitory circuits arises upon maternal inflammation is unknown. Here we show that maternal inflammation affects multiple steps of cortical GABAergic interneuron development, i.e., proliferation of precursor cells, migration and positioning of neuroblasts, as well as neuronal maturation. Importantly,…

Socio-Reproductive Conflicts and the Father’s Curse Dilemma

2018

Evolutionary conflicts between males and females can manifest over sexually antagonistic interactions at loci or over sexually antagonistic interests within a locus. The latter form of conflict, intralocus sexual conflict, arises from sexually antagonistic selection and constrains the fitness of individuals through a phenotypic compromise. These conflicts, and socio-reproductive interactions in general, are commonly mediated by hormones, and thus predictive insights can be gained from studying their mediating effects. Here, we integrate several lines of evidence to describe a novel, hormonally mediated reproductive dilemma that we call the father’s curse, which results from an intralocus co…

Trans-generational immune priming in the mealworm beetle protects eggs through pathogen-dependent mechanisms imposing no immediate fitness cost for t…

2018

8 pages; International audience; Immune-challenged mothers can improve their offspring immunity through trans-generational immune priming (TGIP). In insects, TGIP endows the offspring with lifetime immunity, including the eggs, which are likely exposed soon after maternal infection. Egg protection may rely on the transfer of maternal immune effectors to the egg or/and the induction of egg immune genes. These respective mechanisms are assumed to have early-life fitness costs of different magnitude for the offspring. We provide evidence in the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor that enhanced egg immunity following a maternal immune challenge is achieved by both of these mechanisms but in a path…

Perinatal nutrition: How to take care of the gut microbiota?

2016

Perinatal and postnatal nutritional environments can result in long-lasting and/or permanent consequences that may increase the risk of chronic diseases in adulthood. The impact of perinatal nutrition on infant microbiome development has been increasingly gaining interest, however scarce information can be found about nutrition on maternal microbiome. The infant microbiome plays an essential role in human health and its assembly is determined by maternal offspring exchanges of microbiota. Microbial colonization runs in parallel with the immune system maturation and has a decisive role in intestinal physiology and regulation. This process is adversely affected by several practices, including…

Maternal Diet and Nutrient Requirements in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding. An Italian Consensus Document.

2016

The importance of lifestyle and dietary habits during pregnancy and breastfeeding, for health of mothers and their offspring, is widely supported by the most recent scientific literature. The consumption of a varied and balanced diet from the preconceptional period is essential to ensure both maternal well-being and pregnancy outcomes. However, the risk of inadequate intakes of specific micronutrients in pregnancy and lactation is high even in the most industrialized countries. This particularly applies to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), iron, iodine, calcium, folic acid, and vitamin D, also in the Italian population. Moreover, the risk of not reaching the adequate nutrient supply is increased …

2020

Aims: Current anti-hypertensive therapies cannot cure hypertension and a life-long medication is necessary. Maternal treatment may represent a promising strategy for hypertension treatment. We have previously shown that maternal treatment of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) with pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) leads to a persistent blood pressure reduction in the female offspring at age of 6-8 months. The underlying mechanisms include improved endothelial function resulting from long-lasting epigenetic changes. In the present study, we address the renal effects of maternal PETN treatment. Methods and Results: F0 parental SHR were fed with either normal chow or PETN-containing (1 g/…

DNA methylation links prenatal smoking exposure to later life health outcomes in offspring

2019

Background Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with adverse offspring health outcomes across their life course. We hypothesize that DNA methylation is a potential mediator of this relationship. Methods We examined the association of prenatal maternal smoking with offspring blood DNA methylation in 2821 individuals (age 16 to 48 years) from five prospective birth cohort studies and perform Mendelian randomization and mediation analyses to assess whether methylation markers have causal effects on disease outcomes in the offspring. Results We identify 69 differentially methylated CpGs in 36 genomic regions (P value < 1 × 10−7) associated with exposure to maternal smoking in adolesc…

Gene expression changes after parental exposure to metals in the sea urchin affect timing of genetic programme of embryo development

2021

Simple Summary Intergenerational and transgenerational effects, in which exposure to stressors in a parental generation affects the phenotype of the offspring have been connected to anthropic impacts on biological systems. Therefore, environmental stress experienced inside a generation, particularly during gametogenesis, may lead to erroneous patterns in their offspring just emerging at early developmental stages. In this scenario, the sea urchin embryo represents a suitable model for integrating analyses of gene expression through embryogenesis with developmental alteration induced by environmental stressors. Herein we provide pieces of evidence for the alteration of the gene regulatory ne…

Tolerance of whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) early life stages to manganese sulfate is affected by the parents

2016

European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) embryos and larvae were exposed to 6 different manganese sulfate (MnSO4) concentrations from fertilization to the 3-d-old larvae. The fertilization success, offspring survival, larval growth, yolk consumption, embryonic and larval Mn tissue concentrations and transcript levels of detoxification-related genes were measured in the long-term incubation. Full factorial breeding design (4 females x 2 males) enabled examining the significance of both female and male effects, and female-male interactions in conjunction with the MnSO4 exposure on the observed endpoints. The MnSO4 exposure reduced the survival of the whitefish early life stages. Also the offs…