Preconceptual paternal environmental stimulation alters behavioural phenotypes and adaptive responses intergenerationally in Swiss mice

Abstract

Experimental research has recently revealed that paternal environmental conditions can influence the offspring phenotype through epigenetic mechanisms. However, it is unclear whether these effects impact adaptive responses in the offspring. Environmental enrichment (EE) is a well-established paradigm that promotes neural plasticity. We investigated whether EE in male mice could modify behaviours that are highly relevant for determining adaptive fitness, i.e. spatial memory, attractiveness and social dominance, in the offspring of outbred mice. Male Swiss mice were housed in either EE or standard housing from post-weaning to adulthood before breeding for offspring. Their offspring were raised in standard housing until adulthood then assessed for behavioural, physiological and molecular parameters. F₀ male mice exposed to EE had lower body weight, higher adrenal, spleen and hippocampal weights, better novelty processing and spatial learning, greater hippocampal BDNF levels, and higher social dominance. Unexpectedly, their male offspring (F₁) showed spatial memory impairment, lowered social dominance and were less attractive to receptive females, compared to controls. These ethologically relevant measures suggest a maladaptive response in the male F₁ offspring. Interestingly, when separate cohorts of male F₁ offspring of standard housing or EE fathers were exposed to 8-day EE protocol during adulthood, differences in spatial memory and attractiveness to receptive females were no longer observed between them. These results provide evidence that the paternal environment can influence the offspring's adaptiveness.

Keywords: Environmental enrichment; Mate choice; Memory; Paternal; Social dominance; Swiss mice.