Paternal alcohol use increases frequency of fetal development issues


Date:
February 1, 2022
Source:
Texas A&M University
Summary:
Prenatal visits have traditionally focused almost exclusively on
the behavior of mothers, but new research continues to suggest
that science should be looking more closely at the fathers'
behavior as well.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Prenatal visits have traditionally focused almost exclusively on the
behavior of mothers, but new research from the Texas A&M College of
Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS) continues to suggest
that science should be looking more closely at the fathers' behavior
as well.


==========================================================================
Dr. Michael Golding, an associate professor in the CVMBS' Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology (VTPP), has spent years investigating
the father's role, specifically as it relates to drugs and alcohol,
in fetal development.

Golding says a number of publications have shown that males pass down
more than just their genetics, but exactly how that process works and
the consequences of it remain largely unknown.

"When you look at the data from throughout human history, there's clear evidence that there's something beyond just genetics being inherited
from the male," Golding said. "So, if that data is solid, we've got to
start looking more at male behavior.

"Say you had a parent who was exposed to starvation -- they could pass
on what you might call a 'thriftiness,' where their kids can derive
more nutrition from less food," he said. "That could be a positive if
they grow up in a similar environment, or they could grow up in a time
when starvation isn't an issue and they might be more prone to obesity
or metabolic syndromes. That kind of data is clearly present in clinical
data from humans." Golding's study of how things beyond genes, such as behavior and environment, affect development is called epigenetics, and
one of the big questions in the search for answers on how male prenatal behavior can impact fetal growth has been how exactly these epigenetic
factors manifest.



==========================================================================
Now, there is at least one answer.

In a November publication in the FASEB Journal, Golding's team showed
that the epigenetic factor of prenatal exposure to alcohol in males can manifest in the placenta.

According to Kara Thomas, VTPP graduate student and the lead author on
the paper, their data shows that in mice, offspring of fathers exposed
to alcohol have a number of placenta-related difficulties, including
increased fetal growth restriction, enlarged placentas, and decreased
placental efficiency.

"The placenta supplies nutrients to the growing fetus, so fetal growth restriction can be attributed to a less efficient placenta. This is why placental efficiency is such an important metric; it tells us how many
grams of fetus are produced per gram of placenta," Thomas said. "With
paternal alcohol exposure, placentas become overgrown as they try to
compensate for their inefficiency in delivering nutrients to the fetus." However, the mystery also deepened.



========================================================================== While these increases happened frequently in male offspring, the frequency varied greatly based on the mom; however, the same increases were far
less frequent in female offspring. Golding believes this suggests that
although that information is passed from the father, the mother's genetics
and the offspring's sex also play a role.

"This is a novel observation because it says that there's some complexity here," Golding said. "Yes, men can pass things on to their offspring
beyond just genetics, but the mom's genetics can interpret those
epigenetic factors differently, and that ultimately changes the way
that the placenta behaves." These results don't draw a clear line in
how human male drinking prior to conception impacts fetal development,
but they continue to at least point to it being a question that needs
to be explored.

Golding is hoping that soon doctors, and society at large, will begin
to ask more questions about male prenatal behavior so that there's more
data from which to work.

"The thing that I want to ultimately change is this stigma surrounding
the development of birth defects," Golding said. "There's information
coming through in sperm that is going to impact the offspring but
is not tied to the genetic code; it's in your epigenetic code,
and this is highly susceptible to environmental exposures, so the
birth defects that we see might not be the mother's fault; they
might be the father's or both, equally special promotion Get a free
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things we always get wrong about diet and exercise. Claim_yours_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Texas_A&M_University. Original
written by Aubrey Bloom.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kara N. Thomas, Katherine N. Zimmel, Alexis N. Roach, Alison Basel,
Nicole A. Mehta, Yudhishtar S. Bedi, Michael C. Golding. Maternal
background alters the penetrance of growth phenotypes and
sex‐specific placental adaptation of offspring sired by
alcohol‐exposed males. The FASEB Journal, 2021; 35 (12)
DOI: 10.1096/fj.202101131R ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220201161046.htm

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