Open AccessEpigenetic Memory of Early-Life Parental Perturbation: Dopamine Decrease and DNA Methylation Changes in Offspring
Author(s) -
Laura Bordoni,
Cinzia Nasuti,
Antonio Di Stefano,
Lisa Marinelli,
Rosita Gabbianelli
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
oxidative medicine and cellular longevity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.494
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1942-0900
pISSN - 1942-0994
DOI - 10.1155/2019/1472623
Subject(s) - offspring , dopamine , epigenetics , dopaminergic , dna methylation , biology , epigenome , medicine , endocrinology , physiology , pregnancy , genetics , gene , gene expression
Early-life exposure (from postnatal day 6 to postnatal day 21) to permethrin has been associated with long-term development of dopaminergic neurodegeneration in rats. Here, we first investigated if the dopamine decrease observed following early postnatal exposure to permethrin, an oxidative stressor, can impair the dopamine level in the brain of their untreated offspring. Secondly, we evaluated whether this adverse event affects the epigenome of both directly exposed rats (F0) and their untreated offspring (F1). The results show that early-life exposure to the stressor is associated with changes in global DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation in adult age. Furthermore, parental exposure leads to a significant reduction in dopamine level in the offspring (F1) born from parents or just mothers early-life treated (72.72% and 47.35%, respectively). About 2/3 of pups from exposed mothers showed a significant reduction in dopamine level compared to controls. Global DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation impairment was associated with the F1 pups that showed reduced dopamine. This study provides pivotal evidences on intergenerational effects of postnatal exposure to permethrin emphasizing that this xenobiotic can influence the epigenetic memory of early-life parental perturbations disturbing offspring health.