Beyond infection - Maternal immune activation by environmental factors, microglial development, and relevance for autism spectrum disorders.

Beyond infection - Maternal immune activation by environmental factors, microglial development, and relevance for autism spectrum disorders. Exp Neurol. 2017 Jul 08;: Authors: Bilbo SD, Block CL, Bolton JL, Hanamsagar R, Tran PK Abstract Immune molecules such as cytokines and chemokines and the cells that produce them within the brain, notably microglia, are critical for normal brain development. This recognition has in recent years led to the working hypothesis that inflammatory events during pregnancy, e.g. in response to infection, may disrupt the normal expression of immune molecules during critical stages of neural development and thereby contribute to the risk for neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This hypothesis has in large part been shepherded by the work of Dr. Paul Patterson and colleagues, which has elegantly demonstrated that a single viral infection or injection of a viral mimetic to pregnant mice significantly and persistently impacts offspring immune and nervous system function, changes that underlie ASD-like behavioral dysfunction including social and communication deficits. Subsequent studies by many labs - in humans and in non-human animal models - have supported the hypothesis that ongoing disrupted immune molecule expression and/or neuroinflammation contributes to at least a significant subset of ASD. The heterogeneous clinical and biological phenotypes observed in ASD strongly ...
Source: Experimental Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Exp Neurol Source Type: research