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Updated: Sep 22, 2025
Using a Comparative Species Approach to Investigate the Neurobiology of Paternal Responses
Published on: September 19, 2011
Interaction between social behavior and paternal age in offspring of the same paternal mice
Miho Tanaka1,2, Atsushi Sato1,3, Hiroko Kotajima-Murakami1
1Addictive Substance Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan.
Aim:
Previous studies reported that advanced paternal age (APA) may increase the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring. However, effects of APA on behaviors have not been investigated in offspring of the same paternal mice. The present study sought to identify behavioral differences in mouse offspring of the same fathers at different paternal ages.
Methods:
We assessed locomotor activity, anxiety-like behavior, and social behavior in male mouse offspring that were born from the same fathers at three different paternal ages (3, 12, and 15 months old).
Results:
No differences in locomotor activity or anxiety-like behavior were observed among any of the offspring groups. In the three-chamber test, although the control group (3-month-old paternal age) exhibited significantly higher approach behavior toward the novel mouse compared with the novel object, the APA groups (12- and 15-month-old paternal ages) did not exhibit significant approach toward the novel mouse.
Conclusion:
Offspring of 3-month-old fathers but not 12- or 15-month-old APA fathers exhibited social preference behavior. Although the present study was only exploratory, it demonstrated an interaction between social behavior and paternal age in offspring of the same paternal mice.
