The toxic chemicals from plastics could make users sick as well as affect the metabolic health of a whole family, according to a new study. The University of California-Riverside researchers said that fathers exposed to contaminants from plastic chemicals that affect metabolic health will likely pass this damage to their kids or two generations.
Polymers can be hazardous due to the hormone-disrupting toxins they contain, which are linked to a number of chronic disorders, such as obesity and diabetes. As a result, scientists have thus far concentrated on the way exposure to plastic impacts mothers more than fathers.
In the most recent study, researchers examined the effect of paternal exposure to a compound called dicylohexyl phthalate (DCHP), used by manufacturers to add plastic to enhance durability. They evaluated the impact in the first (F1) and second (F2) generations’ metabolic health in rodent models. The research reveals that four-week exposure to DCHP may lead to impaired insulin signaling and high insulin resistance in the F1 and F2 generations. Still, the impact was weaker in the F2 offspring.
Biomedical sciences professor in the School of Medicine Changcheng Zhou said they found that paternal exposure to phthalates that disrupt the endocrine might have transgenerational and intergenerational adverse effects on the metabolic functioning of their health. So far, this is the first study to show the impact of toxins on metabolic health.
The researchers employed the “PANDORA-seq method,” demonstrating that DCHP exposure might alter a sperm’s RNA, unlike conventional techniques that can’t detect these changes. In the model of the study, researchers had F1 male mice and unexposed females breed to produce F2 offspring. The research showed that paternal exposure to DCHP affected metabolic health in female and male F1 offspring, but the impact was greater in female F2 offspring.
Therefore this implies that paternal exposure to DCHP might result in a sex-specific transgenerational impact on the metabolic health of their offspring. However, Zhou said that it is not clear why the effects are not present in F2 male offspring.