Sperm DNA methylation alterations from cannabis extract exposure are evident in offspring.
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2022-09
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Abstract
Background
Cannabis legalization is expanding and men are the predominant users. We have limited knowledge about how cannabis impacts sperm and whether the effects are heritable.Results
Whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) data were generated for sperm of rats exposed to: (1) cannabis extract (CE) for 28 days, then 56 days of vehicle only (~ one spermatogenic cycle); (2) vehicle for 56 days, then 28 days of CE; or (3) vehicle only. Males were then mated with drug-naïve females to produce F1 offspring from which heart, brain, and sperm tissues underwent analyses. There were 3321 nominally significant differentially methylated CpGs in F0 sperm identified via WGBS with select methylation changes validated via bisulfite pyrosequencing. Significant methylation changes validated in F0 sperm of the exposed males at the gene 2-Phosphoxylose Phosphatase 1 (Pxylp1) were also detectable in their F1 sperm but not in controls. Changes validated in exposed F0 sperm at Metastasis Suppressor 1-Like Protein (Mtss1l) were also present in F1 hippocampal and nucleus accumbens (NAc) of the exposed group compared to controls. For Mtss1l, a significant sex-specific relationship between DNA methylation and gene expression was demonstrated in the F1 NAc. Phenotypically, rats born to CSE-exposed fathers exhibited significant cardiomegaly relative to those born to control fathers.Conclusions
This is the first characterization of the effect of cannabis exposure on the entirety of the rat sperm methylome. We identified CE-associated methylation changes across the sperm methylome, some of which persisted despite a "washout" period. Select methylation changes validated via bisulfite pyrosequencing, and genes associated with methylation changes were involved in early developmental processes. Preconception CE exposure is associated with detectable changes in offspring DNA methylation that are functionally related to changes in gene expression and cardiomegaly. These results support that paternal preconception exposure to cannabis can influence offspring outcomes.Type
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Schrott, Rose, Jennifer L Modliszewski, Andrew B Hawkey, Carole Grenier, Zade Holloway, Janequia Evans, Erica Pippen, David L Corcoran, et al. (2022). Sperm DNA methylation alterations from cannabis extract exposure are evident in offspring. Epigenetics & chromatin, 15(1). p. 33. 10.1186/s13072-022-00466-3 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/26222.
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Scholars@Duke
![Levin](https://scholars.duke.edu/profile-images/thumbnail200/0099352.jpg)
Edward Daniel Levin
Dr. Levin is Chief of the Neurobehavioral Research Lab in the Psychiatry Department of Duke University Medical Center. His primary academic appointment is as Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He also has secondary appointments in the Department Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke. His primary research effort is to understand basic neural interactions underlying cognitive function and addiction and to apply this knowledge to better understand cognitive dysfunction and addiction disorders and to develop novel therapeutic treatments.
The three main research components of his laboratory are focused on the themes of the basic neurobiology of cognition and addiction, neurobehavioral toxicology and the development of novel therapeutic treatments for cognitive dysfunction and substance abuse. Currently, our principal research focus concerns nicotine. We have documented the basic effects of nicotine on learning memory and attention as well as nicotine self-administration. We are continuing with more mechanistic studies in rat models using selective lesions, local infusions and neurotransmitter interaction studies. We have found that nicotine improves memory performance not only in normal rats, but also in rats with lesions of hippocampal and basal forebrain connections. We are concentrating on alpha7 and alpha4beta2 nicotinic receptor subtypes in the hippocampus, amygdala , thalamus and frontal cortex and how they interact with dopamine D1 and D2 and glutamate NMDA systems with regard to memory and addiction. I am also conducting studies on human cognitive behavior. We have current studies to assess nicotine effects on attention, memory and mental processing speed in schizophrenia, Alzheimer's Disease and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In the area of neurobehavioral toxicology, I have continuing projects to characterize the adverse effects of prenatal and adolescent nicotine exposure. Our primary project in neurobehavioral toxicology focuses on the cognitive deficits caused by the marine toxins. The basic and applied aims of our research complement each other nicely. The findings concerning neural mechanisms underlying cognitive function help direct the behavioral toxicology and therapeutic development studies, while the applied studies provide important functional information concerning the importance of the basic mechanisms under investigation.
![Murphy](https://scholars.duke.edu/profile-images/thumbnail200/0218826.jpg)
Susan Kay Murphy
Dr. Murphy is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and serves as Chief of the Division of Reproductive Sciences. As a molecular biologist with training in human epigenetics, her research interests are largely centered around the role of epigenetic modifications in health and disease.
Dr. Murphy has ongoing projects on gynecologic malignancies, including approaches to eradicate ovarian cancer cells that survive chemotherapy and later give rise to recurrent disease. Dr. Murphy is actively involved in many collaborative projects relating to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD).
Her lab is currently working on preconception environmental exposures in males, particularly on the impact of cannabis on the sperm epigenome and the potential heritability of these effects. They are also studying the epigenetic and health effects of in utero exposures, with primary focus on children from the Newborn Epigenetics STudy (NEST), a pregnancy cohort she co-founded who were recruited from central North Carolina between 2005 and 2011. Dr. Murphy and her colleagues continue to follow NEST children to determine relationships between prenatal exposures and later health outcomes.
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