Paternal nutritional programming of lipid metabolism is propagated through sperm and seminal plasma

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>The paternal diet affects lipid metabolism in offspring for at least two generations through nutritional programming. However, we do not know how this is propagated to the offspring.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Objectives</jats:title> <jats:p>We tested the hypothesis that the changes in lipid metabolism that are driven by paternal diet are propagated through spermatozoa and not seminal plasma.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>We applied an updated, purpose-built computational network analysis tool to characterise control of lipid metabolism systemically (Lipid Traffic Analysis v2.3) on a known mouse model of paternal nutritional programming.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>The analysis showed that the two possible routes for programming effects, the sperm (genes) and seminal plasma (influence on the uterine environment), both have a distinct effect on the offspring’s lipid metabolism. Further, the programming effects in offspring suggest that changes in lipid distribution are more important than alterations in lipid biosynthesis.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title> <jats:p>These results show how the uterine environment and genes both affect lipid metabolism in offspring, enhancing our understanding of the link between parental diet and metabolism in offspring.</jats:p> </jats:sec>