Researchers from King’s College in London, England, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, NY, have produced the first study that “used an animal model to investigate the effects of advanced paternal age on behavioral deficits in the offspring.”

Two key findings resulted from the study: “In men, it is thought that the spermatogonial stem cell divisions occurring over the life-course of males result in higher mutational rates and cytogenetic abnormalities in the sperm of older men. Numerous neurological and psychiatric disorders have been related to genomic alterations,” and “an alternative explanation is that epigenetic dysfunction underlies some paternal age effects. Epigenetic dysfunction has been associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.”

Simply put, the older a father is, the higher the potential for the children to have autism, schizophrenia, and early-onset bipolar disorder.

The findings were a result of a mouse study using C57BL/6J offspring. “Young” fathers were two months old and “old” fathers were 10 months old. Using C57BL/6J (the most common reference inbred strain of mouse) reduces genetic variation.

The progeny of the older mice demonstrated less social and exploratory behaviors which are components of mental disorders exhibited in humans.