ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2018
Paternal diet programs offspring health through sperm- and seminal plasma-specific pathways in mice.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 134 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
134 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 273 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- The Impact of Non-caloric Sweeteners on Male Fertility: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis in Rodent Models.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Paternal cytokine administration alters sperm small ncRNAs and offspring brain and behavior.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Review
- Article
- Germline and Embryonic Mechanisms in the Epigenetic Inheritance of Neurodevelopmental and Cognitive Traits in Mammals.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Paternal folate deficiency reveals meiosis as a metabolic sensing window in the male germline.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Paternal Malnutrition has Organ-Specific Intergenerational Effects on Mitochondrial Function and Oxidative Stress Induced DNA Damage in Male Mouse Offspring.Molecular nutrition & food research · 2026Article
- Article
- Cross-Generational Integration of Exercise and Nutritional Encoding in Offspring Adipose Genomics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Paternal Microplastic Exposure Alters Sperm Small Noncoding RNAs and Affects Offspring Metabolic Health in Mice.Journal of the Endocrine Society · 2026Article
- Transgenerational Impact of Environmental Change.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Seminal fluid effects on female reproductive function in laboratory, livestock, and domestic species.The Journal of reproduction and development · 2026Review
- Environmental influences on seminal plasma: Molecular and functional insights.The Journal of reproduction and development · 2026Review
- Environmental and Genetic Perturbations of the Sperm Epigenome.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Article
- Role of Seminal Exosomes in Reproduction.Journal of cellular physiology · 2025Review
- Parental diet and offspring health: a role for the gut microbiome via epigenetics.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2025Review
- Intergenerational Impact of Paternal Low-Protein Diet on Offspring Bone Health in Mice.Function (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
74 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The association between poor paternal diet, perturbed embryonic development, and adult offspring ill health represents a new focus for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis. However, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms remains ill-defined. We have developed a mouse paternal low-protein diet (LPD) model to determine its impact on semen quality, maternal uterine physiology, and adult offspring health. We observed that sperm from LPD-fed male mice displayed global hypomethylation associated with reduced testicular expression of DNA methylation and folate-cycle regulators compared with normal protein diet (NPD) fed males. Furthermore, females mated with LPD males display blunted preimplantation uterine immunological, cell signaling, and vascular remodeling responses compared to controls. These data indicate paternal diet impacts on offspring health through both sperm genomic (epigenetic) and seminal plasma (maternal uterine environment) mechanisms. Extending our model, we defined sperm- and seminal plasma-specific effects on offspring health by combining artificial insemination with vasectomized male mating of dietary-manipulated males. All offspring derived from LPD sperm and/or seminal plasma became heavier with increased adiposity, glucose intolerance, perturbed hepatic gene expression symptomatic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and altered gut bacterial profiles. These data provide insight into programming mechanisms linking poor paternal diet with semen quality and offspring health.
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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.