2025-12-23 カリフォルニア大学リバーサイド校(UCR)
<関連情報>
- https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2025/12/23/fathers-microplastic-exposure-tied-their-childrens-metabolic-problems
- https://academic.oup.com/jes/advance-article/doi/10.1210/jendso/bvaf214/8383852
父親のマイクロプラスチック曝露はマウスの精子の小さな非コードRNAを変化させ、子孫の代謝の健康に影響を与える Paternal microplastic exposure alters sperm small non-coding RNAs and affects offspring metabolic health in mice
Seung Hyun Park,Jianfei Pan,Xudong Zhang,Ting-An Lin,Sijie Tang,Xiuchun Li,Sihem Cheloufi,Qi Chen,Tong Zhou,Changcheng Zhou
Journal of the Endocrine Society Published:18 December 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1210/jendso/bvaf214
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) are small plastic particles emerging as significant environmental pollutants and humans are ubiquitously exposed to microplastics. Recent studies have associated MP exposure with the increased risk of chronic diseases in humans. MPs can also be detected in both male and female reproductive tissues in humans. Parental exposure to various environmental contaminants can increase the risk of cardiometabolic disease in offspring. However, the impact of parental MP exposure on offspring health has not been studied. In the current study, we investigated the effects of paternal exposure to MPs on the metabolic health of F1 offspring in mice. Intriguingly, we found that paternal MP exposure had sex-specific effects on diet-induced obesity including altered body compositions in high-fat diet-fed F1 offspring. Further, female F1 descendants from MP-exposed sires had exacerbated insulin resistance. Sperm small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) including tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) and rRNA-derived small RNAs (rsRNAs) may contribute to the intergenerational transmission of paternally acquired cardiometabolic disorders. We recently developed an innovative PANDORA-seq method to reveal comprehensive sncRNA landscapes in sperm and other tissues. Using PANDORA-seq, we discovered that MP exposure altered sperm tsRNA and rsRNA profiles. Interestingly, several MP-stimulated tsRNAs/rsRNAs influenced the gene expression in murine embryonic stem cells in vitro, indicating a potential role of those sncRNA in contributing paternal MP exposure-elicited offspring phenotypes. Our results suggest that parental microplastic exposure may have intergenerational adverse impact on offspring metabolic health. These findings also underscore the urgency of better understanding the health consequences of plastic exposure in humans.
