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Introduction: Lamarck’s idea of the ability to transfer memories acquired in the face of various environmental conditions through non-educational and non-genetic mechanisms to children has been extensively considered. Previous studies have shown that parents’ environmental experiences, such as exposure to environmental toxins, educational behaviors, stress, and fear, may affect several generations’ phenotypes. The inheritance of epigenetic patterns, including DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA, to living organisms, allows the information related to the ancestral environment to be passed on to their offspring. Presently, the acquired traits related to learning and memory capabilities are among the essential issues in the field of epigenetic transmission. Considering that methylation DNA, histone methylation, and histone acetylation are three major epigenetic processes involved in the regulation of memory, which leads to modification of epigenetic patterns, and given the possibility of transmitting epigenetic symptoms from parents to offspring, it is anticipated that the phenotypes created in the learning process and memory formation in parents will be passed on to their children. It facilitates the learning process and memory formation of the offspring. Therefore, this study aimed at specifically analyzing whether Paternal learning of a spatial task before fertilization can impact the process of spatial learning in the male offspring.
Methods: In the present study, Wistar adult male rats (8 weeks old) were used at the beginning of the study. The first eight male rats were randomly divided into the two groups: spatial memory training group (n=4) and control group (n=4). The rats participated in the spatial memory training group in the Morris water maze Protocol, and the control group did not participate in any training. After the end of the training session, male rats of both groups mated with female rats that had not experienced any training. After the end of mating, pregnancy, birth, and lactation, four male offspring from each mother were randomly selected in each group, and in the two groups, paternal train (n=16), and paternal no-train (n=16) they were practicing Morris water maze within five days.
Results: Escape latency: A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (2×12) (Group × Trial) showed that the main effect of trials (F_{11, 330}=19.63, P≤0.001), the main effect of group (F_{11, 30}=11.77, P≤0.01), and interactive effect of trials and group (F1_{11, 330}=1.98, P≤0.032) is significant. The post-hoc test results revealed that in trial five, there was a significant difference between the time to find the platform in the paternal train and paternal no-train groups, and male offspring of the paternal train group had better performance than others. Swimming speed: A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (2×12) (Group×Trial) showed significant main effects of Trial (F_{(11, 330)}=7.48, P<0.01) and Group (F_{(1, 30)}=4.52, P<0.05), while the interaction Group×Trial (F_{(11, 330)}= 0.69, P=0.74) was not significant. The results showed that the swimming speed in the male offspring of trained fathers was higher than in the female offspring of not-trained fathers. Total distance swum: A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (2×12) (Group×Trial) showed significant main effects of Trial (F_{(11, 330)}=10.20, P<0.001) and Group (F_{(1, 30)}=7.14, P<0.05), while the interaction Group×Trial (F_{(11, 330)}=0.72, P=0.71) was not significant. These data indicate that the male offspring of trained fathers’ total distance swum was significantly shorter than that of male offspring of not-trained fathers. Probe phase: Twenty-four hours afterward, the animals were submitted to the spatial probe test, and the time spent in the target quadrant was calculated. Student’s t-test showed a significant difference between groups (t=2.99, df=30, P<0.01). The results showed the longer time spent in the target quadrant displayed by the male offspring of trained fathers compared to the male offspring of not-trained fathers.
Conclusion: These findings indicate that paternal spatial training before fertilization improves the male offspring’s spatial learning and memory consolidation process and motivation.
 

Keywords: Intergenerational effect, Paternal spatial training, Learning, Memory, Motivation

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