Perinatal malnutrition in male mice influences gene expression in the next generation offspring: Potential role of epigenetics.. Mus musculus

Perinatal nutritional imbalances may have long-lasting consequences on health and disease, increasing risk of obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease. This idea has been conceptualized in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Hypothesis (DOHaD). In addition, there is evidence that such early-programmed phenotypes can be transmitted to the following generation(s). It is proposed that, environmentally induced, transmission of disease risk is mediated by epigenetic mechanisms. Overall design: The aim of this study was to determine whether patterns of gene expression in the first generation offspring are also present in the following generation offspring, via the paternal lineage. Paternal transmission of patterns of gene expression strongly suggest epigenetic inheritance of disease risk. Liver tissue was obtained from the follwing experimental groups: a) control male mice, b) adult male mice previously exposed to 50% caloric restriction in utero (IUGR), c) adult male mice overfed during lactation (ON), d) adult male offspring from control mice, e) adult male offspring from IUGR mice and f) adult male offspring from ON mice.RNA was extracted and processed for further hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays (GeneChip Mouse Genome 430 2.0 (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA)).