Parental olfactory experience influences behavior and neural structure in subsequent generations

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Brian George Dias, Emory University; Kerry Ressler, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-01
• Publisher: Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2013 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v17/n1/full/nn.3594.html
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Nature Neuroscience
• ISSN: 1097-6256
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 89
• End Page: 96
• Grant/Funding Information: Funding for this study was provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund to K.J.R., and a US National Institutes of Health NCRR base grant (P51RR00-0165) to Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
• Research Categories: Sociology, Individual and Family Studies; Biology, Neuroscience; Psychology, Behavioral

Abstract

Using olfactory molecular specificity, we examined the inheritance of parental traumatic exposure, a phenomenon that has been frequently observed, but not understood. We subjected F0 mice to odor fear conditioning before conception and found that subsequently conceived F1 and F2 generations had an increased behavioral sensitivity to the F0-conditioned odor, but not to other odors. When an odor (acetophenone) that activates a known odorant receptor (Olfr151) was used to condition F0 mice, the behavioral sensitivity of the F1 and F2 generations to acetophenone was complemented by an enhanced neuroanatomical representation of the Olfr151 pathway. Bisulfite sequencing of sperm DNA from conditioned F0 males and F1 naive offspring revealed CpG hypomethylation in the Olfr151 gene. In addition, in vitro fertilization, F2 inheritance and cross-fostering revealed that these transgenerational effects are inherited via parental gametes. Our findings provide a framework for addressing how environmental information may be inherited transgenerationally at behavioral, neuroanatomical and epigenetic levels.