Do Prenatal Viral Infections Harm Multiple Generations?

In an animal model, immune activation in a period corresponding to human first-trimester pregnancy impaired offspring's behavior and produced differential gene expression across three generations via paternal lineage.

Influenza during pregnancy is associated with major psychopathology in offspring (NEJM JW Psychiatry Jul 2013 and JAMA Psychiatry 2013; 70:677), and studies in animals have shown brain changes in offspring of infected mothers (NEJM JW Psychiatry Apr 2010 and Biol Psychiatry 2010; 67:965). In mice, the current investigators used a well-known model of viral immune activation to study whether these effects are transmitted to future generations.

Pregnant mice were infected during a gestational period that corresponds to first-trimester pregnancy in humans. Comparisons were made to mice with nonexposed mothers. First-generation case mice exhibited impaired prepulse inhibition, a biomarker of human schizophrenia; less socialization (i.e., preferre…

Reviewing Author

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Do Prenatal Viral Infections Harm Multiple Generations?

Topics

Reviewing Author