Strain-dependent effects of prenatal maternal immune activation on anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in offspring |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Neurology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA;2. Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA;3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA;4. San Diego Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA;5. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA |
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Abstract: | There is converging evidence that prenatal maternal infection can increase the risk of occurrence of neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, autism, anxiety and depression in later life. Experimental studies have shown conflicting effects of prenatal maternal immune activation on anxiety-like behavior and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis development in offspring. We investigated the effects of maternal immune activation during pregnancy on anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in pregnant mice and their offspring to determine whether these effects are dependent on strain. NMRI and C57BL/6 pregnant mice were treated with either saline or lipopolysaccharide on gestational day 17 and then interleukin (IL)-6 and corticosterone (COR) levels; anxiety or depression in the pregnant mice and their offspring were evaluated. The results indicate that maternal inflammation increased the levels of COR and anxiety-like behavior in NMRI pregnant mice, but not in C57BL/6 dams. Our data also demonstrate that maternal inflammation elevated the levels of anxiety-and depression-like behaviors in NMRI offspring on the elevated plus-maze, elevated zero-maze, tail suspension test and forced swimming test respectively, but not in the open field and light–dark box. In addition, we did not find any significant change in anxiety- and depression-like behaviors of adult C57BL/6 offspring. Our findings suggest that prenatal maternal immune activation can alter the HPA axis activity, anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in a strain- and task-dependent manner in offspring and further comprehensive studies are needed to prove the causal relationship between the findings found here and to validate their relevance to neuropsychiatric disorders in humans. |
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Keywords: | Prenatal maternal infection Prenatal stress Lipopolysaccharide Poly I:C Strain difference Schizophrenia Autism Anxiety Depression HPA axis |
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