The role of sperm and oocyte in fetal programming: Is Lamarck making a comeback?
Renata Santos TavaresJoão Ramalho-SantosPublished in: European journal of clinical investigation (2021)
Compelling evidence has shown that parental experiences and age at conception may potentially shape the future health of the next generation(s). Certain factors may affect both the female and, strikingly, the male gametes potentially causing the transmission of acquired traits, which was strongly defended by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. Neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders, trinucleotide repeat-associated diseases, cardiovascular pathologies, diabetes, obesity and cancer in the offspring, among others, have now been associated with events occurring at the preconception level. The potential implications of a (trans)generational inheritance of parental disease and exposure effects should be taken into account in counselling and public policy. Further research into how exactly gametes apparently deliver more than DNA to a new generation is warranted.
Keyphrases
- mental health
- healthcare
- public health
- type diabetes
- papillary thyroid
- insulin resistance
- metabolic syndrome
- weight loss
- cardiovascular disease
- high fat diet
- circulating tumor
- glycemic control
- single molecule
- squamous cell
- mitochondrial dna
- weight gain
- current status
- human health
- high fat diet induced
- genome wide
- health information
- childhood cancer
- smoking cessation
- squamous cell carcinoma
- emergency department
- adipose tissue
- health promotion
- hiv testing
- gene expression
- dna methylation
- skeletal muscle
- physical activity
- nucleic acid
- social media
- human immunodeficiency virus
- men who have sex with men
- circulating tumor cells
- drug induced