Researchers report the first experimental evidence in mice that paternal exposure to microplastics can cause metabolic problems in offspring. The study was published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society. Microplastics are plastic particles smaller than 5 millimetres that come from the breakdown of consumer and industrial products. In the experiment, father mice were exposed to microplastics while they ate a regular diet; the offspring were given a high-fat diet to amplify metabolic changes.
Female offspring of exposed fathers were significantly more likely to develop metabolic disorders and showed diabetic phenotypes. The researchers observed upregulation of pro-inflammatory and pro-diabetic genes in the livers of female offspring—changes not seen in males. Male offspring did not develop diabetes but showed a small decrease in fat mass, while females also had decreased muscle mass.
To explore transmission, the team used PANDORA-seq, a sequencing method developed at UCR, and found altered small non-coding RNAs in sperm. The authors suggest these RNA changes may help explain how paternal exposure raises disease risk in children. The work included collaborators from other US medical schools and was partly supported by NIH grants.
Difficult words
- microplastic — tiny pieces of plastic under five millimetresmicroplastics
- paternal — relating to or coming from the father
- metabolic — related to body processes that use energy
- offspring — children or young of a parent or animal
- upregulation — an increase in activity of a gene or protein
- small non-coding RNA — short RNA molecules that do not make proteinssmall non-coding RNAs
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Discussion questions
- Why did the researchers give the offspring a high-fat diet in the experiment?
- If these results apply to humans, what advice might doctors give to future fathers?
- What further experiments would you design to confirm these findings?
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