Sperm tagged posts

Whether genetic changes can be reversed or are passed on to children is still unknown. New research from Duke Health suggests men in their child-bearing years should also consider how THC could impact their sperm and possibly the children they conceive during periods when they’ve been using the drug...

Father feeding child (stock image). Credit: © YakobchukOlena / Fotolia

A new study sheds light on how. Researchers in Associate Professor Romain Barrès’ laboratory compared sperm cells from 13 lean men and 10 obese men and discovered that the sperm cells in lean and obese men, respectively, possess different epigenetic marks that could alter the next generation’s appetite, as reported in the medical journal Cell Metabolism.

A second major discovery was made as researchers followed 6 men before and 1 year after gastric-bypass surgery to find out how the surgery affected the epigenetic information contained in their sperm cells. The researchers observed an average of 4,000 structural changes to sperm cell DNA from the time before surgery, directly after, and 1 year later.

“We certainly nee...