Adolescent Nutrition
Crystal D. Karakochuk, Kyly C. Whitfield, Tim J. Green, Klaus Kraemer in The Biology of the First 1,000 Days, 2017
The risks of adolescent births extend beyond those of the mother. Although there has been a marked, although uneven, decrease in the birth rates among adolescent girls since 1990, approximately 16 million adolescent girls still give birth each year, which equates to roughly 11% of all births worldwide; almost 95% of these births occur in LMICs [14]. It is estimated that there is a 50% increased risk of stillbirth and neonatal death, and an increased risk of preterm birth and LBW compared to older mothers [11]. Infants born SGA are three times more likely to die during the neonatal period [2], and infants with LBW are estimated to be twice as likely to die as those weighing 2.5 kg or more [38]. Those infants who do survive are at a greater risk of suffering continued nutritional deficits during childhood, and are more likely to grow up to be stunted mothers or fathers themselves. For women, this means perpetuating the “intergenerational cycle of undernutrition” [39], as short maternal stature has been estimated to be the most important risk factor for stunting in infancy and early childhood [40]. The risks for an infant born with LBW continue into adult life, with a higher chance of developing noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes [41]. Additionally, Patton et al. described the possibility of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, whereby preconception influences alter patterns of gene expression that might pass to the next generation [1].
Epigenetics in Sperm, Epigenetic Diagnostics, and Transgenerational Inheritance
Carlos Simón, Carmen Rubio in Handbook of Genetic Diagnostic Technologies in Reproductive Medicine, 2022
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have found specific genetic mutations associated with these human pathologies; however, these genetic mutations typically appear in less than 1% of the diseased population. In contrast, in a rodent model, the epigenetic alterations seem to have a higher frequency and appear in most individuals with the disease (8,13–17,85). Future studies in humans are now required to translate these animal studies. These studies have shed some light on potential new approaches to diagnose and prevent pathologies or diseases that may be transmitted through the transgenerational epigenetic inheritance phenomenon (Figure 7.3). Epigenetic biomarkers have a high frequency of association with pathologies, and their incorporation into medical diagnostics will facilitate preventative medicine not only for infertility diagnostics but for a number of different diseases.
Exploitation and control of women's reproductive bodies
Wendy A. Rogers, Jackie Leach Scully, Stacy M. Carter, Vikki A. Entwistle, Catherine Mills in The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Bioethics, 2022
As the maternal body is the focus of transgenerational epigenetics it offers a new target for biomedical interventions and surveillance. Transgenerational epigenetics suggests a link between maternal behavior and lifestyle during pregnancy and after birth, and the subsequent wellbeing of children in both early and adult life. Poor prenatal diet, prenatal exposure to domestic violence, exposure to maternal distress, Cesarean delivery, alcohol intake before conception and during pregnancy are all linked to epigenetic changes that may cause health problems in the offspring. In this field, the uterus is seen as a micro-environment in which new generations take shape for better and worse. Hence scientists, especially those who work in the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHAD), seek to find out how to control the maternal environment and behavior to advance the health of the offspring and next generations. Does this increasing focus on the “maternal effect” exert power over women to take on new responsibilities?
Sex-biased transgenerational transmission of betaine-induced epigenetic modifications in glucocorticoid receptor gene and its down-stream BDNF/ERK pathway in rat hippocampus
Published in Nutritional Neuroscience, 2022
Yang Yang, Shu Yang, Yimin Jia, Chao Yin, Ruqian Zhao
In the present study, we demonstrated for the first time that maternal betaine supplementation during pregnancy and lactation induces transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of hippocampal expression of GR and its exon 1 mRNA variants in rat offspring, which is associated with modified DNA methylation in the alternative promoters of GR exon 1 mRNA variants, modulated BDNF/TrκB/ERK pathway and the expression of neurogenesis marker protein DCX. Based on these associated changes, combined with a previous report that GR can transactivate BDNF gene in hippocampus [33], we presume that betaine, as a methyl donor, may modulate promoter DNA methylation and GR expression, thereby regulates the GR downstream signals such as BDNF/TrκB/ERK and then hippocampal neurogenesis. Nevertheless, this hypothesis needs to be experimentally validated because we cannot differentiate the causation neither dissect the signaling pathways just by association analyses. Certainly, it is extremely difficult to do mechanistic studies in complex in vivo models, especially when several generations are involved. In the present work, we observed two interesting and potentially valuable phenomena in betaine-induced transgenerational inheritance. One is transgenerational effects, with F2 inherited the DNA methylation and gene expression patterns of their grand dams (F0), while F1 showed opposite patterns. The other is the sex specificity, only females showing significant and coherent changes.
A technical assessment of the porcine ejaculated spermatozoa for a sperm-specific RNA-seq analysis
Published in Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine, 2018
Marta Gòdia, Fabiana Quoos Mayer, Julieta Nafissi, Anna Castelló, Joan Enric Rodríguez-Gil, Armand Sánchez, Alex Clop
Although spermatozoa are considered transcriptionally inactive, there is growing evidence that the sperm RNA population is related to spermatogenesis, fertility potential, chromatin reorganization, embryo development and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (Jodar et al. 2013; Bohacek and Mansuy 2015). Since RNA load in spermatozoa is considerably lower than in somatic cells, an adequate separation of these populations is imperative to study the spermatozoa transcriptome. The application of purification methods decreases the final number of recovered sperm cells, and consequently the cell availability for RNA extraction.
Gremlins in the Germline
Published in The American Journal of Bioethics, 2020
Tim Lewens
Cwik tends to phrase his approach in terms of drawing important ethical lines within the category of germline gene editing. His discussion thereby invites the question of whether there is anything ethically distinctive about germline genetic interventions as a category. Should we simply ask—for medical interventions that affect germline genomes, and for those that do not—the same sorts of questions about goal, risk and clinical rationale that Cwik recommends? In support of this suggestion, consider that:Germline genetic interventions are often distinguished from somatic interventions on the grounds that (i) only the former can affect individuals across several generations and (ii) future individuals who are so affected cannot give consent. But public health measures can also affect multiple individuals, and again consent is often impossible to obtain. In many cases these effects occur within a single generation, but it is also clear that (for example) measures taken to control the spread of COVID-19 are broad-ranging enough that they simultaneously affect several generations, in ways whose downstream effects are unpredictable.Public health measures can also persist across generations after their initial enactment. Educational campaigns can have effects that are sustained through forms of social learning. Other public health interventions are effected via the building of physical infrastructure (such as systems of sanitation) that remains for longer than a single generation.Finally, some evidence suggests that alterations to germline genes are not the only ways in which changes to the germline can persist across generations (Miska and Ferguson-Smith 2016). Research on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance suggests that a subset of changes to non-genetic structures within the germline may also persist.
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