Grand-paternal age and the development of autism-like symptoms in mice progeny.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Sampino S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4012289 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Grand-paternal age and the development of autism-like symptoms in mice progeny.
Sampino S S Juszczak G R GR Zacchini F F Swiergiel A H AH Modlinski J A JA Loi P P Ptak G E GE
Translational psychiatry 20140429
Advanced paternal age (APA) contributes to the risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in children. In this study, we used a mouse model to investigate the effects of APA on behavioral features related to autistic syndromes (that is, social deficits, communication impairments and stereotypic/repetitive behaviors). We also examined whether such effects are transmitted across generations. To do this, males aged 15 months (APA) and 4 months (control) were bred with 4-month-old females, and the res ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Advanced paternal age (APA) at conception has been linked with autism and schizophrenia in offspring, neurodevelopmental disorders that affect social functioning. The current study explored the effects of paternal age on social development in the general population.We used multilevel growth modeling to investigate APA effects on socioemotional development from early childhood until adolescence, as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) sample. We also investigated genetic and environmental underpinnings of the paternal age effects on development, using the Additive genetics, Common environment, unique Environment (ACE) and gene-environment (GxE) models.In the general population, both very young and advanced paternal ages were associated with altered trajectory of social development (intercept: p = .01; slope: p = .03). No other behavioral domain was affected by either young or advanced age at fatherhood, suggesting specificity of paternal age effects. Increased importance of genetic factors in social development was recorded in the offspring of older but not very young fathers, suggesting distinct underpinnings of the paternal age effects at these two extremes.Our findings highlight that the APA-related deficits that lead to autism and schizophrenia are likely continuously distributed in the population.
| S-EPMC5409803 | biostudies-other
Project description:Advanced paternal age has been shown to be a significant risk factor for neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders, particularly autism. We have recently shown that mice conceived by old fathers display behavioral abnormalities which resemble key diagnostic symptoms of human autism. De novo mutations and epigenetic alterations increase in the male germ line during ageing and are thought to mediate the effect of paternal age on occurrence of diseases occurrence. Because the placenta carry a predominantly fetal genetic background, age-related mutagenesis and epigenetic errors might negatively influence placental physiology and in turn perturb fetal brain development. Here, we examined the impact of paternal age on placental mRNA transcriptome. This work was supported by Programme FP7-KBBE-2012.1.3-04, GA no. 312097 Acronym: FECUND, to GEP; MIUR/CNR, Programme FIRB. GA n. B81J12002520001 Acronym: GenHome, to PL. This study was also partially financed by the IGAB PAS project (S.III.1.3), Polish Scientific Committee Grant 2011/03/N/NZ29/05222, Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Grants N N519 657940 and N N311 604938. We compared gene expression patterns of mouse placentas harvested from either advanced paternal age model (APA) of autism or control animals. We included 2 comparisons: 1) placenta of female APA vs placenta of female control; 2) placenta of male APA vs placenta of male control. Each comparison was composed of 3 biological replicates. To minimize family bias, poolings contained at most one placenta per sex from each dam to a minimum of one and a maximum of three placentas per group/sex.
2015-07-25 | E-GEOD-71322 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Effects of maternal and paternal age on offspring autism and schizophrenia risks have been studied for over three decades, but inconsistent risks have often been found, precluding well-informed speculation on why these age-related risks might exist. METHODOLOGY:To help clarify this situation we analysed a massive single population sample from Denmark including the full spectrum of autistic and schizophrenic disorders (eliminating between-study confounding), used up to 30 follow-up years, controlled for over 20 potentially confounding factors and interpret the ultimate causation of the observed risk patterns using generally accepted principles of parent-offspring conflict and life-history theory. RESULTS:We evaluated the effects of paternal age, maternal age and parental age difference on offspring mental disorders and found consistently similar risk patterns for related disorders and markedly different patterns between autistic and schizophrenic disorders. Older fathers and mothers both conferred increased risk for autistic but not schizophrenic disorders, but autism risk was reduced in younger parents and offspring of younger mothers had increased risk for many schizophrenic disorders. Risk for most disorders also increased when parents were more dissimilarly aged. Monotonically increasing autism risk is consistent with mutation accumulation as fathers' age, but this explanation is invalid for schizophrenic disorders, which were not related to paternal age and were negatively correlated with maternal age. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS:We propose that the observed maternally induced risk patterns ultimately reflect a shifting ancestral life-history trade-off between current and future reproduction, mediated by an initially high but subsequently decreasing tendency to constrain foetal provisioning as women proceed from first to final pregnancy.
| S-EPMC5026125 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Advanced paternal age has been shown to be a significant risk factor for neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders, particularly autism. We have recently shown that mice conceived by old fathers display behavioral abnormalities which resemble key diagnostic symptoms of human autism. De novo mutations and epigenetic alterations increase in the male germ line during ageing and are thought to mediate the effect of paternal age on occurrence of diseases occurrence. Because the placenta carry a predominantly fetal genetic background, age-related mutagenesis and epigenetic errors might negatively influence placental physiology and in turn perturb fetal brain development. Here, we examined the impact of paternal age on placental mRNA transcriptome. This work was supported by Programme FP7-KBBE-2012.1.3-04, GA no. 312097 Acronym: FECUND, to GEP; MIUR/CNR, Programme FIRB. GA n. B81J12002520001 Acronym: GenHome, to PL. This study was also partially financed by the IGAB PAS project (S.III.1.3), Polish Scientific Committee Grant 2011/03/N/NZ29/05222, Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Grants N N519 657940 and N N311 604938.
2015-07-25 | GSE71322 | GEO
Project description:Between 2% and 12% of adults in the general population report experiencing psychotic-like symptoms, and there is suggestive evidence that these symptoms are associated with risk of schizophrenia and other forms of psychopathology. Older parental age is an established risk factor for schizophrenia, however few studies have attempted to extend this relationship to psychotic-like symptoms. Data come from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication and analysis is restricted to a subset of respondents who completed questions on psychosis (N=924). Lifetime occurrence of six psychotic-like symptoms (i.e., see a vision others couldn't see, hear voices others couldn't hear) was assessed by self-report. These symptoms were combined into a single binary (any vs. none) variable and analyzed using logistic regression, accounting for the complex survey design. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, marital status, birth order, and history of mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Approximately 9% (n=103) of respondents reported at least one psychotic-like symptom. In fully-adjusted models, paternal age was significantly associated with experiencing psychotic-like symptoms (χ(2)=13.34, p=.010). Relative to respondents whose fathers were aged 25 to 29 at the time of their birth, those with fathers aged >35 had 2.12 times higher odds (95% confidence interval: 1.08-4.16) of psychotic-like symptoms. There was no relationship between maternal age (younger or older) and psychotic-like symptoms (χ(2)=0.54, p=.909). Older paternal, but not maternal, age at birth is associated with psychotic-like symptoms in adult offspring.
| S-EPMC4472338 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Advancing paternal age has been linked to autism.To further expand knowledge about the association between paternal age and autism by studying the effect of grandfathers' age on childhood autism.Population-based, multigenerational, case-control study.Nationwide multigeneration and patient registers in Sweden.We conducted a study of individuals born in Sweden since 1932. Parental age at birth was obtained for more than 90% of the cohort. Grandparental age at the time of birth of the parent was obtained for a smaller subset (5936 cases and 30 923 controls).International Classification of Diseases diagnosis of childhood autism in the patient registry.A statistically significant monotonic association was found between advancing grandpaternal age at the time of birth of the parent and risk of autism in grandchildren. Men who had fathered a daughter when they were 50 years or older were 1.79 times (95% CI, 1.35-2.37; P < .001) more likely to have a grandchild with autism, and men who had fathered a son when they were 50 years or older were 1.67 times (95% CI, 1.35-2.37; P < .001) more likely to have a grandchild with autism, compared with men who had fathered children when they were 20 to 24 years old, after controlling for birth year and sex of the child, age of the spouse, family history of psychiatric disorders, highest family educational level, and residential county. A statistically significant monotonic association was also found between advancing paternal age and risk of autism in the offspring. Sensitivity analyses indicated that these findings were not the result of bias due to missing data on grandparental age.Advanced grandparental age was associated with increased risk of autism, suggesting that risk of autism could develop over generations. The results are consistent with mutations and/or epigenetic alterations associated with advancing paternal age.
| S-EPMC3701020 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A causal role of mutations in multiple general transcription factors in neurodevelopmental disorders including autism suggested that alterations in global levels of gene expression regulation might also relate to disease risk in sporadic cases of autism. This premise can be tested by evaluating for changes in the overall distribution of gene expression levels. For instance, in mice, variability in hippocampal-dependent behaviors was associated with variability in the pattern of the overall distribution of gene expression levels, as assessed by variance in the distribution of gene expression levels in the hippocampus. We hypothesized that a similar change in variance might be found in children with autism. Gene expression microarrays covering greater than 47,000 unique RNA transcripts were done on RNA from peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of children with autism (n = 82) and controls (n = 64). Variance in the distribution of gene expression levels from each microarray was compared between groups of children. Also tested was whether a risk factor for autism, increased paternal age, was associated with variance. A decrease in the variance in the distribution of gene expression levels in PBL was associated with the diagnosis of autism and a risk factor for autism, increased paternal age. Traditional approaches to microarray analysis of gene expression suggested a possible mechanism for decreased variance in gene expression. Gene expression pathways involved in transcriptional regulation were down-regulated in the blood of children with autism and children of older fathers. Thus, results from global and gene specific approaches to studying microarray data were complimentary and supported the hypothesis that alterations at the global level of gene expression regulation are related to autism and increased paternal age. Global regulation of transcription, thus, represents a possible point of convergence for multiple etiologies of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
| S-EPMC3040743 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A causal role of mutations in genes encoding for multiple general transcription factors in neurodevelopmental disorders including autism suggested that alterations at the global level of gene expression regulation might also relate to disease risk in sporadic cases of autism. This premise can be tested by evaluating for global changes in the overall distribution of gene expression levels. For instance, in mice, we recently showed that variability in hippocampal-dependent behaviors was associated with variability in the pattern of the overall distribution of gene expression levels, as assessed by variance in the distribution of gene expression levels in the hippocampus. We hypothesized that a similar change in the variance in gene expression levels might be found in children with autism. Gene expression microarrays covering greater than 47,000 unique RNA transcripts were done on purified RNA from peripheral blood lymphocytes of children with autism (n=82) and controls (n=64). The variance in the distribution of gene expression levels from each microarray was compared between groups of children. Also tested was whether a risk factor for autism, increased paternal age, was associated with variance in the overall distribution of gene expression levels. A decrease in the variance in the distribution of gene expression levels in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) was associated with the diagnosis of autism and a risk factor for autism, increased paternal age. Traditional approaches to microarray analysis of gene expression suggested a possible mechanism for decreased variance in gene expression. Gene expression pathways involved in transcriptional regulation were down-regulated in the blood of children with autism and children of older fathers. Thus, results from global and gene specific approaches to studying microarray data were complimentary and supported the hypothesis that alterations at the global level of gene expression regulation are related to autism and increased paternal age. Regulation of transcription, thus, represents a possible point of convergence for multiple etiologies of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The study was designed to compare gene expression profiles in peripheral blood lymphocytes of children with autism (n=82) and controls(n=64). Expression profiling: Expression profiling was performed at Translational Genomics (TGen), a member of the NIMH Neuroscience Microarray Consortium. Total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) within 30 minutes of the blood draw using the Qiagen Qiaquick kit (Germantown, MD). Isolated total RNA was double round amplified, cleaned, and biotin-labeled using Affymetrix’s GeneChip Two-Cycle Target Labeling kit (Santa Clara, CA) with a T7 promoter and Ambion’s MEGAscript T7 High Yield Transcription kit (Austin, TX) as per manufacturer’s protocol. Amplified and labeled cRNA was quantified on a spectrophotometer and run on a 1% TAE gel to check for an evenly distributed range of transcript sizes. Twenty micrograms of cRNA was fragmented to approximately 35-200bp by alkaline treatment (200 mM Tris-acetate, pH 8.2, 500 mM KOAc, 150 mM MgOAc) and run on a 1% TAE gell to verify fragmentation. Separate hybridization cocktails were made using 15 micrograms of fragmented cRNA from each sample as per Affymetrix’s protocol. Two hundred microliters (containing 10 micrograms of fragmented cRNA) of each cocktail was separately hybridized to an Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 Array for 16h at 45 degree Celsius in the Hybridization Oven 640. The Affymetrix Human Genome Arrays measure the expression of over 47,000 transcripts and variants, including 38,500 characterized human genes. Arrays were washed on Affymetrix’s GeneChip Fluidics Station 450 using a primary streptavidin phycoerythrin (SAPE) stain, subsequent biotinylated antibody stain, and secondary SAPE stain. Arrays were scanned on Affymetrix’s GeneChip Scanner 3000 7G with AutoLoader. Scanned images obtained by the Affymetrix GeneChip Operating Software (GCOS) v1.2 were used to extract raw signal intensity values per probe set on the array. A scaling factor of 150 was used to normalize array signal intensity in MAS 5.0. Arrays were scanned over 1 day on 2 different machines. Arrays scanned on the same machine and in the same day were considered to be from the same scan batch. Rescanning of a limited number of samples indicated that there were no significant differences between machines, nonetheless, for all comparisons groups were balanced for the scan batch. Gene expression levels were not adjusted for possible batch effects as algorithms that attempt to adjust for batch effects also alter the gene expression distribution. When samples could not be prepped simultaneously they were balanced for group membership (autism vs. control). To statistically control for possible confounds related to scan batches in our analysis of gene expression variance, batch number was entered into an analysis of covariance. For traditional analysis of gene expression, experimental groups were balanced with respect to batch membership. Microarray data analysis: Affymetrix .cel files were imported into Affymetrix Expression Console version 1.1. Data was pre-processed and summarized by Microarray Analysis Suite (MAS) 5.0 and Robust Multiarray Analysis (RMA). For the analysis of gene expression distributions, MAS 5.0 was used because the algorithm does not alter the gene expression distribution, whereas, RMA utilizes quantile normalization of probes prior to summarization and, therefore, has the potential to remove group level differences in gene expression distributions. Because of the numerous advantages in its handling of noise in gene expression and background subtraction, RMA was used for traditional gene expression analyses looking for specific gene expression differences between groups. Because, we found group level differences in the distribution of gene expression levels between groups, for traditional gene expression analyses summarized gene expression levels were also quantile normalized after the summarization step. Quantile normalization adjusts all data sets such that they have identical distribution patterns. Probesets were then filtered for those that were called present in at least 50 out of the 146 subjects (n = 25,146 probesets). A p-value of .05 was used as a threshold for significance. A fold-change of 1.1 was used as a cut off for magnitude of change. All microarrays met manufacturers recommended quality control criteria. Present calls ranged from 37.4% to 49%, mean 43.7%, SD 2.7%. Actin 3’to5’ ratios ranged from .726 to 5.15, mean1.37, SD 0.5. There were no significant group level differences in quality control measures.
2011-10-08 | E-GEOD-25507 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:ObjectiveParental obesity can induce metabolic phenotypes in offspring independent of the inherited DNA sequence. Here we asked whether such non-genetic acquired metabolic traits can be passed on to a second generation that has never been exposed to obesity, even as germ cells.MethodsWe examined the F1, F2, and F3 a/a offspring derived from F0 matings of obese prediabetic A (vy) /a sires and lean a/a dams. After F0, only lean a/a mice were used for breeding.ResultsWe found that F1 sons of obese founder males exhibited defects in glucose and lipid metabolism, but only upon a post-weaning dietary challenge. F1 males transmitted these defects to their own male progeny (F2) in the absence of the dietary challenge, but the phenotype was largely attenuated by F3. The sperm of F1 males exhibited changes in the abundance of several small RNA species, including the recently reported diet-responsive tRNA-derived fragments.ConclusionsThese data indicate that induced metabolic phenotypes may be propagated for a generation beyond any direct exposure to an inducing factor. This non-genetic inheritance likely occurs via the actions of sperm noncoding RNA.
| S-EPMC5021672 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Infant crying is a communicative behavior impaired in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Because advanced paternal age is a risk factor for NDDs, we performed computational approaches to evaluate how paternal age affected vocal communication and body weight development in C57BL/6 mouse offspring from young and aged fathers. Analyses of ultrasonic vocalization (USV) consisting of syllables showed that advanced paternal age reduced the number and duration of syllables, altered the syllable composition, and caused lower body weight gain in pups. Pups born to young fathers had convergent vocal characteristics with a rich repertoire, whereas those born to aged fathers exhibited more divergent vocal patterns with limited repertoire. Additional analyses revealed that some pups from aged fathers displayed atypical USV trajectories. Thus, our study indicates that advanced paternal age has a significant effect on offspring's vocal development. Our computational analyses are effective in characterizing altered individual diversity.
| S-EPMC9418688 | biostudies-literature