ArticleTranslational psychiatry2017
Exercise alters mouse sperm small noncoding RNAs and induces a transgenerational modification of male offspring conditioned fear and anxiety.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 86 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
86 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 165 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of paternal alcohol, tobacco, caffeine use and physical activity on offspring mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Reproductive health · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Impact of parental exercise on epigenetic modifications inherited by offspring: A systematic review.Physiological reports · 2019Pooled it
- Paternal cytokine administration alters sperm small ncRNAs and offspring brain and behavior.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Transfer RNA-derived small RNAs: from biogenesis to regulatory roles in male reproductive system.Journal of human genetics · 2026Review
- Small RNA profile alterations as a potential mechanism for sperm quality improvement following varicocelectomy.Asian journal of andrology · 2026Article
- Parental exercise mediates fetal metabolic and cardiac programming.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- A father's legacy: the sperm epigenome, preimplantation development, and paternal environment.Epigenomics · 2025Review
- Run for your sons: paternal exercise boosts offspring fitness.Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM · 2025Article
- Serum tRF-18-HR05X6D2 may serve as a promising potential diagnostic biomarker for gastric cancer.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2025Article
- Exposure of mice to environmentally relevant per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) alters the sperm epigenome.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Beyond Genes: Mechanistic and Epidemiological Insights into Paternal Environmental Influence on Offspring Health.Current environmental health reports · 2025Review
- Paternal heroin self-administration in rats increases drug-seeking behavior in male offspring via miR-19b downregulation in the nucleus accumbens.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Epididymal-Born circRNA Cargo and Its Implications in Male Fertility.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- The composition of human sperm sncRNAome: a cross-country small RNA profiling.Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2025Article
- The Small Non-Coding RNA Profile of Human and Mouse Sperm.Non-coding RNA · 2025Review
- Research progress on the tsRNA biogenesis, function, and application in lung cancer.Non-coding RNA research · 2025Review
- Relaxin family peptide receptor 3 (RXFP3) expressing cells in the zona incerta/lateral hypothalamus augment behavioural arousal.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Article
- Emerging roles and therapeutic potential of tRNA-Derived small RNAs in reproductive system diseases: a review.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Multifaceted paternal exposures before conception and their epigenetic impact on offspring.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2024Review
26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is growing evidence that the preconceptual lifestyle and other environmental exposures of a father can significantly alter the physiological and behavioral phenotypes of their children. We and others have shown that paternal preconception stress, regardless of whether the stress was experienced during early-life or adulthood, results in offspring with altered anxiety and depression-related behaviors, attributed to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation. The transgenerational response to paternal preconceptual stress is believed to be mediated by sperm-borne small noncoding RNAs, specifically microRNAs. As physical activity confers physical and mental health benefits for the individual, we used a model of voluntary wheel-running and investigated the transgenerational response to paternal exercise. We found that male offspring of runners had suppressed reinstatement of juvenile fear memory, and reduced anxiety in the light-dark apparatus during adulthood. No changes in these affective behaviors were observed in female offspring. We were surprised to find that running had a limited impact on sperm-borne microRNAs. The levels of three unique microRNAs (miR-19b, miR-455 and miR-133a) were found to be altered in the sperm of runners. In addition, we discovered that the levels of two species of tRNA-derived RNAs (tDRs)-tRNA-Gly and tRNA-Pro-were also altered by running. Taken together, we believe this is the first evidence that paternal exercise is associated with an anxiolytic behavioral phenotype of male offspring and altered levels of small noncoding RNAs in sperm. These small noncoding RNAs are known to have an impact on post-transcriptional gene regulation and can thus change the developmental trajectory of offspring brains and associated affective behaviors.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.