Gestational Sympathetic Stress Programs the Fertility of Offspring: A Rat Multi-Generation Study

Beatriz Piquer, Freddy Ruz, Rafael Barra and Hernan E. Lara
Additional contact information
Beatriz Piquer: Centre for Neurobiochemical Studies in Neuroendocrine Diseases, Laboratory of Neurobiochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Independencia, Santiago 8380492, Chile
Freddy Ruz: Centre for Neurobiochemical Studies in Neuroendocrine Diseases, Laboratory of Neurobiochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Independencia, Santiago 8380492, Chile
Rafael Barra: Centre for Neurobiochemical Studies in Neuroendocrine Diseases, Laboratory of Neurobiochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Independencia, Santiago 8380492, Chile
Hernan E. Lara: Centre for Neurobiochemical Studies in Neuroendocrine Diseases, Laboratory of Neurobiochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Independencia, Santiago 8380492, Chile

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: The exposure to sympathetic stress during the entire period of gestation (4 °C/3 h/day) strongly affects the postnatal reproductive performance of the first generation of female offspring and their fertility capacity. The aim of this work was to determine whether this exposure to sympathetic stress affects the reproductive capacity of the next three generations of female offspring as adults. Adult female Sprague–Dawley rats were mated with males of proven fertility. We studied the reproductive capacity of the second, third, and fourth generations of female offspring (the percentage of pregnancy and the number and weight of female offspring). The estrus cycle activity of the progenies was studied, and a morphological analysis of the ovaries was carried out to study the follicular population. The second generation had a lower number of pups per litter and a 20% decrease in fertile capacity. The estrus cycle activity of the third generation decreased even more, and they had a 50% decrease in their fertile capacity, and their ovaries presented polycystic morphology. The fourth generation however, recovered their reproductive capacity but not the amount of newborns pups. Most probably, the chronic intrauterine exposure to the sympathetic stress programs the female gonads to be stressed in a stressful environment; since the fourth generation was the first born with no direct exposure to stress during development, it opens studies on intrauterine factors affecting early follicular development.

Keywords: programming; ovary fertility; sympathetic stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/5/3044/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/5/3044/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:5:p:3044-:d:764697

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().