Influence of the diet made by its family ancestors in the hereditary component of an individual: study in six generations of rats.
BACKGROUND
The prevalence of the deficiency of enzyme Lactase/phlorizin hydrolase (LPH) varies widely between different countries, with a low of 1-3% in Scandinavia and close to 100% in most of South-East Asia. Various carbohydrates are capable of enhancing LPH mRNA levels in the small intestine, and that transcriptional control plays a major role in the carbohydrate-induced alterations of LPH mRNA expression.


METHODS
A generation of rats was randomized and assigned to two groups; those that were fed a high-carbohydrate diet and, those that were fed standard rodent meal. The sixth generation of these animals was fed standard rodent meal. Transfection experiments using Caco-2 cells were performed using sperm samples of the sixth generation of rats.


RESULTS
This study suggests that the feeding with a high-carbohydrate diet during five generations of rats increases the capacity of production of enzyme LPH, LPH mRNA levels and the transcription rate of the LPH gene in the sixth generation of these animals, and this fact happens independently of the diet that this generation of rats had. Transfection experiments show that this influence has had to take place necessarily within the hereditary component which the last generation of rats received from its family ancestors.


CONCLUSIONS
The feeding received by the ancestors of a generation of rats could influence within hereditary component received by them.
Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, University of Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. vcuarteror@yahoo.es
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Mendívil
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D017931:DNA Primers; D004032:Diet; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010694:Lactase-Phlorizin Hydrolase / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D017931:DNA Primers; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D010694:Lactase-Phlorizin Hydrolase