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Epigenetic Alterations in Human Sperm

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Handbook of Nutrition, Diet, and Epigenetics

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Abstract

The concept called developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) pays attention to the environmental influence on the fetus in utero (maternal side). However, individual mammals originate from the oocyte and sperm. Sperm are more susceptible to genetic and epigenetic mutations than oocytes because of the multistep germ cell meiosis during spermatogenesis (paternal side). DNA methylation might be influenced by external environmental factors such as endocrine disruptors, certain foods, and drug exposures during gametogenesis. In aged men these factors accumulate and affect the quality of sperm. Recent work identified sperm from men of advanced aged as a risk factor for autism, depression, epilepsy, and some kinds of cancer in children. In this chapter, we introduce the concept that methylation errors of paternal sperm may lead to congenital disease and various diseases later in life, and we would like to suggest the “expanded DOHaD hypothesis.”

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Abbreviations

ART:

Assisted reproductive technology

AS:

Angelman syndrome

BWS:

Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome

CGIs:

CpG islands

DOHaD:

Developmental origins of health and disease

gDMR:

Germline differentially methylated region

ICR:

Imprinting control region

ICSI:

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection

IVF:

In vitro fertilization

mgDMR:

Maternally methylated gDMR

PIH:

Pregnancy-induced hypertension

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

pgDMR:

Paternally methylated gDMR

PWS:

Prader–Willi syndrome

SRS:

Silver–Russell syndrome

TET:

Ten-eleven translocation

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informative Genetics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan

    Naoko Miyauchi, Akane Kitamura, Hitoshi Hiura, Hiroaki Okae, Norio Kobayashi, Hiromitsu Hattori, Souta Takahashi & Takahiro Arima

Authors
  1. Naoko Miyauchi
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  2. Akane Kitamura
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  3. Hitoshi Hiura
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  4. Hiroaki Okae
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  5. Norio Kobayashi
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  6. Hiromitsu Hattori
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  7. Souta Takahashi
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  8. Takahiro Arima
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takahiro Arima .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK

    Vinood B. Patel

  2. Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences Research Division, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    Victor R. Preedy

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Miyauchi, N. et al. (2019). Epigenetic Alterations in Human Sperm. In: Patel, V., Preedy, V. (eds) Handbook of Nutrition, Diet, and Epigenetics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55530-0_28

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55530-0_28

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-55529-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-55530-0

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