Protein-restricted diet during pregnancy after insemination alters behavioral phenotypes of the progeny

Epidemiological studies suggest that hyponutrition during the fetal period increases the risk of mental disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism-spectrum disorder, which has been experimentally supported using animal models. However, previous experimental hyponutrition o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genes & nutrition 2017-01, Vol.12 (1), p.1-1, Article 1
Main Authors: Furuse, Tamio, Miyake, Kunio, Kohda, Takashi, Kaneda, Hideki, Hirasawa, Takae, Yamada, Ikuko, Kushida, Tomoko, Kashimura, Misho, Kobayashi, Kimio, Ishino, Fumitoshi, Kubota, Takeo, Wakana, Shigeharu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
Animal models
Anxiety
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Autism
Biochemistry
Brain
Cesarean section
Cholesterol
Diet
Dietary restrictions
DNA methylation
Embryo transfer
Embryos
Epidemiology
Epigenetics
Females
Fetuses
Folic acid
Gene expression
Genomes
In vitro fertilization
Laboratory animals
Lactation
Males
Maternal behavior
Mental disorders
Metabolic disorders
Mothers
Nutrient deficiency
Phenotypes
Phenotyping
Pregnancy
Proteins
Reproductive technologies
Sperm
Vitamin B
Weaning
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Summary:Epidemiological studies suggest that hyponutrition during the fetal period increases the risk of mental disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism-spectrum disorder, which has been experimentally supported using animal models. However, previous experimental hyponutrition or protein-restricted (PR) diets affected stages other than the fetal stage, such as formation of the egg before insemination, milk composition during lactation, and maternal nursing behavior. We conducted in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer in mice and allowed PR diet and folic acid-supplemented PR diet to affect only fetal environments. Comprehensive phenotyping of PR and control-diet progenies showed moderate differences in fear/anxiety-like, novelty-seeking, and prosocial behaviors, irrespective of folic-acid supplementation. Changes were also detected in gene expression and genomic methylation in the brain. These results suggest that epigenetic factors in the embryo/fetus influence behavioral and epigenetic phenotypes of progenies. Significant epigenetic alterations in the brains of the progenies induced by the maternal-protein restriction were observed in the present study. To our knowledge, this is first study to evaluate the effect of maternal hyponutrition on behavioral phenotypes using reproductive technology.
ISSN:1555-8932
1865-3499
DOI:10.1186/s12263-016-0550-2