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Preconception diet or exercise intervention in obese fathers normalizes sperm microRNA profile and metabolic syndrome in female offspring

journal contribution
posted on 2015-05-01, 00:00 authored by Nicole O McPherson, Julie OwensJulie Owens, Tod Fullston, Michelle Lane
Obesity and type 2 diabetes are increasingly prevalent across all demographics. Paternal obesity in humans and rodents can program obesity and impair insulin sensitivity in female offspring. It remains to be determined whether these perturbed offspring phenotypes can be improved through targeted lifestyle interventions in the obese father. Using a mouse model, we demonstrate that diet or exercise interventions for 8 wk (2 rounds of spermatogenesis) in obese founder males restores insulin sensitivity and normalized adiposity in female offspring. Founder diet and/or exercise also normalizes abundance of X-linked sperm microRNAs that target genes regulating cell cycle and apoptosis, pathways central to oocyte and early embryogenesis. Additionally, obesity-associated comorbidities, including inflammation, glucose intolerance, stress, and hypercholesterolemia, were good predictors for sperm microRNA abundance and offspring phenotypes. Interventions aimed at improving paternal metabolic health during specific windows prior to conception can partially normalize aberrant epigenetic signals in sperm and improve the metabolic health of female offspring

History

Journal

American journal of physiology

Volume

308

Pagination

E805-E821

Location

Bethesda, Md.

eISSN

1522-1555

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2015 the American Physiological Society

Issue

9

Publisher

The American Pysiological Society