A study of mice revealed that offspring conceived after their father had COVID-19 have higher levels of anxiety. Such changes are due to differences in sperm non-coding RNAs, which are involved in regulating the expression of specific genes.
A study on Saturday in Nature Communication revealed that the COVID-19 could have lasting effects on future generations, I decide to changes in sperm.
“We already knew that when male rats were exposed to specific environmental and lifestyle factors, such as a poor diet before mating, this could alter the brain development and behavior of offspring. This is because the father’s experiences can alter the information carried by the sperm, including specific RNA molecules, which convey instructions for the offspring’s development,” they explained, in , researchers at the Florey-Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne (Australia).
The team wanted to study whether the COVID-19 virus would similarly affect sperm RNA and the resulting offspring. All offspring of parents affected by COVID-19 showed an increase in anxiety behaviors.
“We let male mice recover from SARS-CoV-2 infection for a few weeks before mating with healthy females. We found that resulting offspring displayed more anxious behaviorswhen compared with the offspring of uninfected parents”, said the first author of the study, Elizabeth Kleeman.
Analysis of RNA from sperm from infected parents showed that, in fact, COVID-19 had altered several molecules, including some involved in regulating genes known to be important for brain development.
“These results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may have lasting effects on future generations. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the impacts of this virus and this infectious disease, not only on people directly infected, but also on their children, who may be affected by their parents’ experience with COVID-19”, the statement reads.
“If our findings translate to humans, this could impact millions of children around the world and their families, with major implications for public health”, they added.
