Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice
Defining the mechanisms underlying the programming of early life growth is fundamental for improving adult health and wellbeing. While the association between maternal diet, offspring growth and adult disease risk is well-established, the effect of father's diet on offspring development is larg...
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Elsevier
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49849/ |
| _version_ | 1848798092861636608 |
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| author | Watkins, Adam J. Sirovica, Slobodan Stokes, Ben Isaacs, Mark Addison, Owen Martin, Richard A. |
| author_facet | Watkins, Adam J. Sirovica, Slobodan Stokes, Ben Isaacs, Mark Addison, Owen Martin, Richard A. |
| author_sort | Watkins, Adam J. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Defining the mechanisms underlying the programming of early life growth is fundamental for improving adult health and wellbeing. While the association between maternal diet, offspring growth and adult disease risk is well-established, the effect of father's diet on offspring development is largely unknown. Therefore, we fed male mice an imbalanced low protein diet (LPD) to determine the impact on post-fertilisation development and fetal growth. We observed that in preimplantation embryos derived from LPD fed males, expression of multiple genes within the central metabolic AMPK pathway was reduced. In late gestation, paternal LPD programmed increased fetal weight, however, placental weight was reduced, resulting in an elevated fetal:placental weight ratio. Analysis of gene expression patterns revealed increased levels of transporters for calcium, amino acids and glucose within LPD placentas. Furthermore, placental expression of the epigenetic regulators Dnmt1 and Dnmt3L were increased also, coinciding with altered patterns of maternal and paternal imprinted genes. More strikingly, we observed fetal skeletal development was perturbed in response to paternal LPD. Here, while offspring of LPD fed males possessed larger skeletons, their bones comprised lower volumes of high mineral density in combination with reduced maturity of bone apatite. These data offer new insight in the underlying programming mechanisms linking poor paternal diet at the time of conception with the development and growth of his offspring. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:14:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-49849 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:14:17Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-498492020-05-04T18:48:15Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49849/ Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice Watkins, Adam J. Sirovica, Slobodan Stokes, Ben Isaacs, Mark Addison, Owen Martin, Richard A. Defining the mechanisms underlying the programming of early life growth is fundamental for improving adult health and wellbeing. While the association between maternal diet, offspring growth and adult disease risk is well-established, the effect of father's diet on offspring development is largely unknown. Therefore, we fed male mice an imbalanced low protein diet (LPD) to determine the impact on post-fertilisation development and fetal growth. We observed that in preimplantation embryos derived from LPD fed males, expression of multiple genes within the central metabolic AMPK pathway was reduced. In late gestation, paternal LPD programmed increased fetal weight, however, placental weight was reduced, resulting in an elevated fetal:placental weight ratio. Analysis of gene expression patterns revealed increased levels of transporters for calcium, amino acids and glucose within LPD placentas. Furthermore, placental expression of the epigenetic regulators Dnmt1 and Dnmt3L were increased also, coinciding with altered patterns of maternal and paternal imprinted genes. More strikingly, we observed fetal skeletal development was perturbed in response to paternal LPD. Here, while offspring of LPD fed males possessed larger skeletons, their bones comprised lower volumes of high mineral density in combination with reduced maturity of bone apatite. These data offer new insight in the underlying programming mechanisms linking poor paternal diet at the time of conception with the development and growth of his offspring. Elsevier 2017-06-01 Article PeerReviewed Watkins, Adam J., Sirovica, Slobodan, Stokes, Ben, Isaacs, Mark, Addison, Owen and Martin, Richard A. (2017) Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice. BBA - Molecular Basis of Disease, 1863 (6). pp. 1371-1381. ISSN 0925-4439 Blastocyst metabolism; Bone health; Developmental programming; Fetal growth; Paternal diet; Placental function https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925443917300509?via%3Dihub doi:10.1016/j.bbadis.2017.02.009 doi:10.1016/j.bbadis.2017.02.009 |
| spellingShingle | Blastocyst metabolism; Bone health; Developmental programming; Fetal growth; Paternal diet; Placental function Watkins, Adam J. Sirovica, Slobodan Stokes, Ben Isaacs, Mark Addison, Owen Martin, Richard A. Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice |
| title | Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice |
| title_full | Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice |
| title_fullStr | Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice |
| title_full_unstemmed | Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice |
| title_short | Paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice |
| title_sort | paternal low protein diet programs preimplantation embryo gene expression, fetal growth and skeletal development in mice |
| topic | Blastocyst metabolism; Bone health; Developmental programming; Fetal growth; Paternal diet; Placental function |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49849/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49849/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49849/ |