Hereditary transmission to the F1-generation of hormonal imprinting (receptor memory) induced in rats by neonatal exposure to insulin.

Abstract

F1 rats bred from parents treated with insulin on a single occasion showed a considerable alteration in hepatocellular insulin binding when newborn compared to controls bred from parents not treated. In females, insulin binding increased and in males decreased relative to the controls. Neonatal insulin treatment of one parent only had a similar effect on the F1-generation regardless of the parent's sex, but the displacement of the initially bound surplus insulin took place more readily, owing presumably to a lesser stability of binding on uniparental transmission of hormonal imprinting.