Effect of maternal stress on fertility and sex ratio: A pilot study with rats.

Lane, Ellen A.; Hyde, Thomas S.

doi:10.1037/h0034851

Cited by 42 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The higher vulnerability of males has also been demonstrated in rodents that are stressed in other ways during their pregnancies (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)39). In the case of our experiments, mothers on the LF diet had full access to a nutritionally complete diet and were able to produce four successive litters of pups of normal size at Ϸ10-wk intervals, which reflects the potential of many mouse strains (40).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…When rodents are food-restricted, however (13,(16)(17)(18), or are provided diets suboptimal in essential fatty acids (19) or protein (20), they tend to produce small, femalebiased litters, although there is at least one report where sex ratio was not altered in mice that were deprived of adequate food (21). Stresses other than food restriction can also reduce the fraction of males born to rodents (22)(23)(24)(25). When ad libitum-fed hamsters are exposed to an aggressive female, for example, their resulting litters become skewed toward females and are smaller than in controls due to the loss of male fetuses after implantation (26).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Striking variation in the sex ratio of pups born to mice according to whether maternal diet is high in fat or carbohydrate

Rosenfeld

Grimm

Livingston

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

138

112

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In female mammals, it remains controversial whether maternal diet and particularly the source and availability of energy can influence sex of offspring born. Outbred female mice were fed ad libitum from 30 days to Ϸ45 wk of age on defined, complete diets that differed only in their relative content of fat and carbohydrate to determine whether calorie source influenced litter size and sex ratio of pups. Diet 1 (very high in saturated fat, VHF) provided 60% of calories as fat, mainly lard. Diet 2 (low in saturated fat, LF) was low in fat (10% of calories) but high in carbohydrate. Mice delivered four litters of pups, resulting in a total of 1,048 young born over 108 pregnancies. Gestation length and litter size did not differ between VHF and LF groups and did not change as mice aged. Sex ratio of pups (fraction male) born to mothers on VHF diet was unusually high (0.67) and to mothers on LF diet very low (0.39) over litters 2, 3, and 4. This skewing of sex ratio was related to diets fed and not to body mass of mothers. Age of mothers was an important variable, however. Mice that were first bred at 10 wk of age delivered similar numbers of sons and daughters, whereas virgin mice bred later than 20 wk of age produced litters that were skewed toward males or females according to diet. The data show that the source of calories provided in a nutritionally complete diet to mature female mice can influence sex of offspring born.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Striking variation in the sex ratio of pups born to mice according to whether maternal diet is high in fat or carbohydrate

Rosenfeld

Grimm

Livingston

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

138

112

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In a previous study in mice, a skew in the sex ratio toward females in stressed mothers was explained by an increase in embryonic death of males [7]. Thus, assuming that the sex ratio of bovine embryos following insemination was 50:50, our finding indicates that a high proportion of male embryos died after fertilization as a result of frequent capture and treatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Stresses can be acute (short term), such as earthquakes, floods or sudden bereavement, or chronic (long term), such as food shortages, wars or epidemics. In rodents, females stressed acutely in some manner tend to produce fewer sons than non-stressed females [2,3,7]. The concentration of cortisol or corticosterone in plasma is used to assess stress [8].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Subjecting Holstein Heifers to Stress During the Follicular Phase Following Superovulatory Treatment May Increase the Female Sex Ratio of Embryos

Ideta

Hayama

Kawashima

et al. 2009

Journal of Reproduction and Development

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Abstract. The sex ratio of mammals has previously been shown to be affected by maternal stress. In our previous study, the proportion of female embryos collected from superovulated and artificially inseminated Holstein heifers that were frequently placed in stanchions and subjected to transrectal examinations of the ovaries during the follicular phase tended to be higher than the expected 50%. The goal of the present study was to test the validity of this observation using a greater number of heifers. Superovulated heifers were artificially inseminated at 56 and 72 h after PGF2α treatment using a single batch of frozen semen. Frequent capture (FC), transrectal examination and/or blood sampling were performed at 4-h intervals from 36 to 76 h after PGF2α treatment (n=13). Nine heifers were used as the Control (non-treatment). Seven-day-embryos were recovered by uterine flushing. Male and female embryos were separated using the loop-mediated isothermal amplification procedure. The proportion of female transferable embryos in the FC group (67.8%, 78/115) was significantly higher than that in the Control group (51.2%, 43/84, P<0.05). The peak concentration of plasma cortisol during the follicular phase following superovulatory treatment was 20.6 ng/ml in the FC group. These results suggest that subjecting heifers to stress during the follicular phase following superovulatory treatment may increase the female sex ratio of embryos.

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“…We suspect that the heifers were strongly stressed by the frequent rectal palpations. In rodents, stressed mothers tend to produce fewer male offspring than nonstressed mothers [32,34,35]. The proportion of female grade 1 embryos was low (31.6%, 6/19) for the 4 superovulated heifers that were inseminated with frozen-thawed semen from Bull-A but not examined by transrectal ultrasonography.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships among Estrous Behavior, Superovulatory Response and Grade 1 Embryo Sex Ratio in Superovulated Holstein Heifers

Ideta

Hayama

Urakawa

et al. 2007

Journal of Reproduction and Development

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Abstract. Abstract. In this study, we first attempted to determine whether the timing of artificial insemination affects the sex ratio of seven-day-old embryos in superovulated Holstein heifers. The superovulatory treatment consisted of eight decreasing doses of FSH for 4 days and 2 doses of PGF2α given with the last two doses of FSH. The superovulated heifers were given a GnRH analogue 48 h after the first PGF2α treatment and were artificially inseminated 48 h (n=10) or 56 h (n=8) after the first PGF2α treatment. There were no significant differences in the percentages of unfertilized ova and transferable embryos (grades 1 to 3) between the two groups. The proportions of female grade 1 embryos did not significantly differ from the expected ratio of 50:50 (49.3% at 48 h and 52.5% at 56 h). We then compared the estrous behavior and superovulatory responses of the heifers with a proportion of female embryos of 50% or less (n=7, Low group) to those of the heifers with a proportion of female embryos of more than 50% (n=9, High group). The Low group had a longer duration of estrus and a higher superovulatory response than the High group. These findings offer little encouragement for prediction of the population of female embryos collected from superovulated heifers. Further studies are necessary to evaluate to what degree maternal hormone levels are related to estrus duration and sex ratio. Key words: Estrous behavior, Sex ratio, Superovulation, Superovulatory response (J. Reprod. Dev. 53: [1015][1016][1017][1018][1019][1020][1021] 2007) he dairy and beef industries mainly use female or male animals, respectively. Numerous efforts have been directed toward developing procedures to skew the sex of offspring [1][2][3]; however, it is difficult to draw clear conclusions from the literature, as different laboratories have reported conflicting results under similar conditions. Significant enrichment of X chromosome-bearing spermatozoa has only been demonstrated by sex selection of spermatozoa based on chromatin differences (cell sorting by flow cytometry) [4]; however, this procedure is not widely used due to the cost of the equipment and the limitations in relation to sorting rate.On the other hand, the sex ratio of offspring has been altered for several species by varying the timing of insemination, such as in humans [5,6], hamsters [7,8], mice [9] and sheep [10]. In cattle, some researchers have shown that varying the timing of artificial insemination (AI) does not influence embryo sex ratio [11,12]. The overall sex ratio of bovine embryos produced in vivo and in vitro does not differ from the expected ratio of 50:50 [13][14][15].

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Effect of maternal stress on fertility and sex ratio: A pilot study with rats.

Cited by 42 publications

References 12 publications

Striking variation in the sex ratio of pups born to mice according to whether maternal diet is high in fat or carbohydrate

Striking variation in the sex ratio of pups born to mice according to whether maternal diet is high in fat or carbohydrate

Subjecting Holstein Heifers to Stress During the Follicular Phase Following Superovulatory Treatment May Increase the Female Sex Ratio of Embryos

Relationships among Estrous Behavior, Superovulatory Response and Grade 1 Embryo Sex Ratio in Superovulated Holstein Heifers

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