A examine led by the University of California, Riverside reveals that males consuming a high-cholesterol food plan could improve the chance of heart problems of their daughters, as unhealthy paternal diets can alter the RNA in sperm, affecting the offspring’s health.
Men consuming a high-cholesterol food plan could improve the chance of heart problems of their daughters, as unhealthy paternal diets can alter the RNA in sperm, affecting the offspring’s health. This danger, highlighted by mouse fashions, exhibits a major improve in atherosclerosis amongst feminine offspring.
When they change into fathers, males who’ve an unhealthy, high-cholesterol food plan may cause elevated danger of heart problems, or CVD, of their daughters, a University of California, Riverside-led mouse examine has discovered.
The analysis, printed immediately (September 10) within the journal JCI Insight, is the primary to display this outcome seen solely in feminine offspring. The examine was led by the University of California, Riverside.
CVD, the main explanation for loss of life globally, is a gaggle of issues that impacts the guts and blood vessels. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a number one danger issue for CVD. In the United States, nearly 703,000 people died in 2022 from heart disease, the equal of 1 in each 5 deaths.
Cardiovascular Risks Linked to Paternal Health Factors
“It had been previously thought that sperm contribute only their genome during fertilization,” mentioned Changcheng Zhou, a professor of biomedical sciences within the School of Medicine and the examine’s lead writer. “However, recent studies by us and others have demonstrated that environmental exposures, including unhealthy diet, environmental toxicants, and stress, can alter the RNA in sperm to mediate intergenerational inheritance.”
Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, is present in all residing cells. Bearing structural similarities to DNA, this nucleic acid is essential for many organic features in residing organisms and viruses.
“Men who plan to have children should consider eating a healthy, low-cholesterol diet and reducing their own CVD risk factors,” Zhou mentioned. “These factors appear to affect their sperm in influencing the health of their female offspring. Our study suggests the sperm passes this information to the next generation.”
Sperm RNA and Intergenerational Health Effects
The examine targeted on atherosclerosis, a continual inflammatory illness that’s the main explanation for CVD. In atherosclerosis, plaque, a sticky substance made up of ldl cholesterol, fats, and different substances within the blood, builds up within the partitions of arteries. When the plaque hardens, it narrows the arteries, limiting blood circulation to the body and decreasing the provision of oxygen to tissues of significant organs.
Sperm accommodates an abundance of small non-coding RNA molecules, that are essential for gene regulation and lots of mobile processes. When they’re modified, their features change considerably throughout varied organic processes. The researchers discovered that the small RNA molecules in sperm of mice fed a high-cholesterol food plan endure alterations in response to publicity to the food plan. They additionally discovered that the altered small RNA molecules can have an effect on early gene expression in mouse embryonic stem cells.
Gender-Specific Transmission of Health Risks
Zhou defined that almost all research have targeted on the consequences of maternal components on offspring health. The impression of paternal exposures on offspring health has been largely ignored, he mentioned.
“It is challenging to study the impact of parental exposures on chronic disease development in their offspring because the experiments, in general, are time-consuming and require more resources and careful planning,” he mentioned.
The researchers aren’t clear why solely feminine offspring are affected with CVD. In their experiments, Zhou and his workforce fed male genetically engineered mice a high-cholesterol food plan, which prompted them to have hyperlipidemia, a dysfunction that, if left untreated, can lead to coronary heart illness and stroke. These mice have been then mated with feminine mice that have been fed an everyday, low-cholesterol food plan. Their litter was additionally fed a low-cholesterol food plan. The feminine offspring have been discovered to have 2-3-fold will increase in atherosclerosis.
“Our study contributes to understanding the etiology of chronic diseases originating from parental exposures,” Zhou mentioned. “We hope our findings stimulate investigations of the impact of paternal exposures on offspring cardiovascular health in humans.”
Reference: “Paternal hypercholesterolemia elicits sex-specific exacerbation of atherosclerosis in offspring” 10 September 2024, JCI Insight.
DOI: 10.1172/jci.perception.179291
Zhou was joined within the examine by Rebecca Hernandez, Xiuchun Li, Junchao Shi, and Tejasvi R. Dave of UCR; Tong Zhou of the University of Nevada, Reno; and Qi Chen of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
The examine was supported by grants to Zhou from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH. Hernandez was supported by an American Heart Association predoctoral fellowship. Dave was supported by a UCR mini-grant for undergraduate analysis and artistic actions.
To examine sperm small RNA, the researchers used the PANDORA-seq method developed at UCR.
