During prenatal and early postnatal periods of development, multiple environmental factors have profound and long-lasting effects on the immune and reproductive functions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of maternal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure (50 mg/kg, i.p.) at day 12 of pregnancy and estradiol antagonist treatment (fulvestrant, 1.5 mg/kg, s.c. in neck) at postnatal days 5-14 (PND5-14) with high estradiol levels on reproductive parameters in adult rat males. Serum steroid concentrations were measured in male offspring at PND80 by ELISA. Body, testis weights and ano-genital distance (AGD) were recorded at different stages of postnatal development. Testis was also processed to cytohistological studies at PND80. Our results demonstrate that body weight was decreased from PND14 to 30 after prenatal LPS treatment and was increased after fulvestrant treatment. AGD was decreased after prenatal LPS treatment and was increased after fulvestrant injections. Testis weight, testosterone level, seminiferous tubule diameter, and number of Sertoli and spermatid cells were also decreased in rats exposed prenatally to LPS and were restored to the normal control level after fulvestrant treatment. According to results, we can conclude that the development of sexual disorders in males after prenatal immune stress is potentiated by estradiol during the pre-pubertal period.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/and.13204 | DOI Listing |
Mol Biol Evol
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution & Animal Models, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.
Our recent investigations on the function of Drosophila CG11700 and CG32744 (Ubi-p5E) genes using CRISPR/Cas9 deletion technology could not repeat or confirm the results on CG11700 shown in our previous study which was based on P-element excision assay (Zhan et al. 2012). Here by CRISPR/Cas9 editing, we generated mutants of CG32744 with the whole gene body fully deleted from the genome, and truncated mutants of CG11700 with N-terminal 103 aa deleted out of its total 301 aa peptide sequence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFR Soc Open Sci
January 2025
Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Across mammals, fertility and offspring survival are often lowest at the beginning and end of females' reproductive careers. However, extrinsic drivers of reproductive success-including infanticide by males-could stochastically obscure these expected age-related trends. Here, we modelled reproductive ageing trajectories in two cercopithecine primates that experience high rates of male infanticide: the chacma baboon () and the gelada ().
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Intellect Dev Disabil
September 2024
Tranzo, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
Background: Moving out of the family home is a key transition for people with intellectual disabilities and their families. Yet there has been little research about parents' experiences of planning the move of their young adult offspring to residential settings offering 24-hour support.
Method: Interviews were conducted with eleven parents whose offspring moved to residential settings within the past 5 years (five fathers; six mothers).
Epigenetics Chromatin
January 2025
Department of Maternal‑Fetal Biology, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, 157‑8535, Japan.
Background: DNA methylation plays a crucial role in mammalian development. While methylome changes acquired in the parental genomes are believed to be erased by epigenetic reprogramming, accumulating evidence suggests that methylome changes in sperm caused by environmental factors are involved in the disease phenotypes of the offspring. These findings imply that acquired sperm methylome changes are transferred to the embryo after epigenetic reprogramming.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehav Brain Res
January 2025
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, New Zealand. Electronic address:
A majority of people with schizophrenia will experience motor symptoms such as impairments to coordination, balance and motor sequencing. These neurological soft signs are associated with negative social and functional outcomes, and poor disease prognosis. They occur prior to medication exposure, suggesting they are an intrinsic feature of schizophrenia.
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