Intergenerational effect of parental spatial training on offspring learning: Evidence for sex differences in memory...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Genetics
• Epigenetics

Background:

• Environmental factors can influence offspring traits.
• Parental experiences may impact offspring learning and memory.
• The role of parental learning in offspring spatial memory is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if parental spatial memory task learning before fertilization enhances offspring spatial learning.
• To determine the role of each parent in this transgenerational learning.
• To explore the molecular mechanisms involved in this phenomenon.

Main Methods:

• Animals were trained in the Morris water maze before mating.
• Offspring (male and female) were assessed in the same spatial task.
• Hippocampal levels of ERK1/2, BDNF, SYT1, and H3K14ac were analyzed in offspring.

Main Results:

• Parental spatial training significantly improved offspring spatial learning and memory.
• Learning transmission was sex-specific: fathers to male offspring, mothers to female offspring.
• Father's training increased BDNF, phosphorylated ERK1/2, and H3K14ac in male offspring's hippocampus.

Conclusions:

• Spatial learning acquired by parents can be transmitted to offspring.
• This transgenerational effect is sex-specific and involves epigenetic modifications.
• Histone acetylation may mediate the upregulation of BDNF and ERK1/2, enhancing spatial memory in offspring.