Mardanpour Mahboobeh, Ghavidel Nooshin, Asadi Sareh, Khodagholi Fariba
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran.
Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran.
Neuroreport. 2022 Jan 19;33(2):48-54. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000001749.
Environmental and hereditary factors play roles in shaping the personality of offspring which are often associated with gene expression alterations. The long-term effects of the environment that are modulated by the epigenetic mechanisms can be even transmitted to the next generations. This study aimed to investigate the effects of paternal stress, such as paternal aggression and food deprivation, on the social interaction behaviors of offspring in adulthood and the expression of genes that are associated with these behaviors.
The intruder-resident method, followed by an electric shock, was used to induce aggression in male Wistar rats before mating. To induce food deprivation, father rats were given 10 g pellets every day without restriction on water consumption for 2 weeks before mating. Social interactions of the male offspring were evaluated at the age of 8 weeks using a three-chamber social interaction test. Real-time PCR was applied to quantify the expression levels of oxytocin (OXT), oxytocin receptor (OXTR), and arginine vasopressin (AVP) genes in the amygdala of offspring. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare the means of experimental groups.
The results did not show significant changes in the social interaction behaviors for the offspring of aggressive and food-deprived fathers compared to the control group. However, molecular investigations indicated increased levels of OXT, OXTR, and AVP gene expression in the offspring amygdala of aggressive and food-deprived fathers.
The results showed that paternal stress, such as aggression and food deprivation, induced gene expression alterations in the offspring, although they did not affect their social interaction behaviors.
环境和遗传因素在塑造后代性格方面发挥作用，这通常与基因表达改变有关。由表观遗传机制调节的环境长期影响甚至可以传递给下一代。本研究旨在调查父源性应激，如父源性攻击和食物剥夺，对成年后代社交互动行为以及与这些行为相关的基因表达的影响。
在交配前，采用入侵者-居住者方法并施加电击来诱导雄性Wistar大鼠产生攻击行为。为诱导食物剥夺，在交配前2周，每天给雄鼠10克颗粒饲料，不限饮水。在8周龄时，使用三室社交互动试验评估雄性后代的社交互动。应用实时聚合酶链反应（PCR）定量后代杏仁核中催产素（OXT）、催产素受体（OXTR）和精氨酸加压素（AVP）基因的表达水平。采用单因素方差分析比较各实验组的均值。
与对照组相比，攻击性和食物剥夺性父本的后代在社交互动行为上未显示出显著变化。然而，分子研究表明，攻击性和食物剥夺性父本的后代杏仁核中OXT、OXTR和AVP基因表达水平升高。
结果表明，父源性应激，如攻击和食物剥夺，会诱导后代基因表达改变，尽管它们不影响后代的社交互动行为。
