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- Paternal aging and its possible link to neurodevelopmental disorders
Nov 18, 2016
Paternal aging and its possible link to neurodevelopmental disorders
Published in PLoS ONE
Neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are on the rise, but its underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Our members, Noriko Osumi, Kaichi Yoshizaki and colleagues at Tohoku University's Graduate School of Medicine collaborated with Shigeru Wakana and Tamio Furuse at RIKEN Bio-Resource Center, and Tucci Valter at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, to conduct comprehensive behavioral analyses on how paternal aging influences the behavior of offspring that inherit a genetic risk (a mutation in Pax6 gene*). For the public, the research shows that paternal aging may exacerbate genetic risks - this could explain why there is a rapid rise in the ratio of children with ASD or ADHD, due to men having children later in life. This work was published online in PLoS ONE on November 17.
*Pax6 gene encodes a transcription factor that regulates expression of many downstream
Please visit the links below for further information.
Research News (Tohoku University)
http://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/press/paternal_aging_and_neurodevelopmental_disorders.html
Kaichi Yoshizaki, Tamio Furuse, Ryuichi Kimura, Valter Tucci, Hideki Kaneda, Shigeharu Wakana, Noriko Osumi.
Paternal Aging Affects Behavior in Pax6 Mutant Mice: A Gene/Environment Interaction in Understanding Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
PLoS ONE 11(11): e0166665. 2016.