Exposure to toxins during pregnancy we know that it can produce many alterations and diseases. Now, researchers at the University of Washington have discovered that some ovarian diseases, such as polycystic ovaries or ovarian insufficiency, may increase as a result of toxic exposure and be inherited by later generations.
The work has been directed by biologist Michael Skinner and published in the journal PLoS One. The scientists observed that rats exposed to a mixture of fungicides, pesticides, plastics, dioxins and hydrocarbons caused the females descendants of a pregnant rat to suffer these ovarian problems and fertility and transmit them to three of the following generations.
The cause of this is the transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. The toxins deactivated or activated genes that will be transmitted to the descendants and, therefore, caused problems in their tissues and cells.
The interest of these discoveries is that, by making us aware of the serious hereditary consequences of exposure to environmental toxins, we can better understand the causes of fertility problems and ovarian diseases, which have increased significantly in women during the last years.
In addition, the authors of the work point out that once the genetic markers related to the ovarian problems Your treatment may be investigated more accurately.
Without a doubt, we can conclude that exposure to environmental toxins is one of the biggest problems of public and reproductive health those we are going to face in the next generations.
The data of the influence of toxins on transgenerational ovarian diseases, so far demonstrated in animals, is undoubtedly a fact to consider.
Via | PLoS ONE In Babies and more | Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), Getting pregnant suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome
