[ad_1]
Brown adipose tissue helps to utilize excess energy. The more tissue a person has and the more active they are, the less likely they are to become overweight or develop metabolic diseases.
An international research team led by Christian Wolfrum, professor at ETH Zurich, showed that
Father's ambient temperature affects children
Exams performed on mice showed that offspring had a more active brown adipose tissue when her father was in a cool climate before conception. An environmental influence, which exposes the father, thus transfers it to his offspring.
The link is also found in humans. In collaboration with colleagues from Zurich University Hospital, researchers from ETH Zurich analyzed CT images of 8400 adult patients
People who had birthdays from July to November – and therefore conceived in winter – have a Brown adipose tissue more active than People with a birthday from January to June.
This relationship was tested on mice. The researchers kept the animals at 23 degrees or 8 degrees and allowed them to reproduce. Then they examined the offspring. It was found that mothers' temperature before and after conception did not play a role in the adipose tissue of young people.
The influence on the fathers was clear. The offspring of males living in the cold had a more active brown adipose tissue than males living at temperate temperatures. Young people with cooler group producers were also better protected against obesity: they were fat in a high-fat diet.
Researchers have been able to prove with sperm and in vitro fertilization studies that information on father's temperature an epigenetic imprint of sperm is passed on to the offspring. This refers to a change in the pattern that forms certain chemical markers on the genetic material.
Brown adipose tissue is affected before conception
As such, it has been known for some years that certain environmental factors affect the epigenetic model of sperm can change. However, Zurich researchers have now shown for the first time that ambient temperature can also lead to such epigenetic changes, as reported in Nature Medicine.
The scientists' findings are in line with previous observations that humans in cold regions have a lot of brown fat. "Until now, it was thought that this had to do with the temperatures during his lifetime," said Wolfrum in an ETH statement. "Our observations suggest that this could also be influenced by the temperature before conception."
However, the researcher does not want to deduce any advice for an ideal moment of conception. "Before we can give such advice, we need to better understand the context in humans," said Wolfrum. A jump in the wet cool but probably not enough for paternal cooling. "A pronounced cold exposure is probably necessary for epigenetic impression" (SDA)
[ad_2]
Source link
