Paternal low protein diet perturbs inter-generational metabolic homeostasis in a tissue-specific manner in mice

Morgan, Hannah L.; Furse, Samuel; Dias, Irundika H. K.; Shabir, Kiran; Castellanos, Marcos; Khan, Iqbal; May, Sean T.; Holmes, Nadine; Carlile, Matthew; Sang, Fei; Wright, Victoria; Koulman, Albert; Watkins, Adam J.

Abstract

The underlying mechanisms driving paternally-programmed metabolic disease in offspring remain poorly defined. We fed male C57BL/6 mice either a control normal protein diet (NPD; 18% protein) or an isocaloric low protein diet (LPD; 9% protein) for a minimum of 8 weeks. Using artificial insemination, in combination with vasectomised male mating, we generated offspring using either NPD or LPD sperm but in the presence of NPD or LPD seminal plasma. Offspring from either LPD sperm or seminal fluid display elevated body weight and tissue dyslipidaemia from just 3 weeks of age. These changes become more pronounced in adulthood, occurring in conjunction with altered hepatic metabolic and inflammatory pathway gene expression. Second generation offspring also display differential tissue lipid abundance, with profiles similar to those of first generation adults. These findings demonstrate that offspring metabolic homeostasis is perturbed in response to a suboptimal paternal diet with the effects still evident within a second generation.

Citation

Morgan, H. L., Furse, S., Dias, I. H. K., Shabir, K., Castellanos, M., Khan, I., …Watkins, A. J. (2022). Paternal low protein diet perturbs inter-generational metabolic homeostasis in a tissue-specific manner in mice. Communications Biology, 5(1), Article 929. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03914-8

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 30, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Sep 8, 2022
• Publication Date: Sep 8, 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 27, 2023
• Journal: Communications Biology
• Electronic ISSN: 2399-3642
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 929
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03914-8
• Keywords: General Agricultural and Biological Sciences; General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Medicine (miscellaneous)
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/10918867
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-03914-8