Individual differences in maternal response to immune challenge predict offspring behavior: Contribution of environmental factors

• Published in: Behavioural brain research 2011-06, Vol.220 (1), p.55-64
• Main Authors: Bronson, Stefanie L., Ahlbrand, Rebecca, Horn, Paul S., Kern, Joseph R., Richtand, Neil M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age Factors; Amphetamine - pharmacology; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Antiviral Agents - administration & dosage; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body weight; Body Weight - immunology; Central Nervous System Stimulants - pharmacology; Dizocilpine Maleate - pharmacology; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists - pharmacology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Individuality; Inflammation; Locomotion - drug effects; Male; Medical sciences; Poly I-C - administration & dosage; Poly IC; Predictive Value of Tests; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - immunology; Prenatal immune activation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Psychosocial stress; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Schizophrenia; Weight Gain - drug effects; Weight Gain - immunology; Weight Loss - drug effects
• ISSN: 0166-4328; 1872-7549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2010.12.040

► Individual differences in body weight response to poly I:C occur in pregnant rats. ► Maternal body weight change in response to poly I:C predicts offspring behavior. ► Social isolation and increasing maternal age are associated with increased sensitivity to poly I:C. Maternal infection during pregnancy elevates risk for schizophrenia and related disorders in offspring. Converging evidence suggests the maternal inflammatory response mediates the interaction between maternal infection, altered brain development, and behavioral outcome. The extent to which individual differences in the maternal response to immune challenge influence the development of these abnormalities is unknown. The present study investigated the impact of individual differences in maternal response to the viral mimic polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) on offspring behavior. We observed significant variability in body weight alterations of pregnant rats induced by administration of poly I:C on gestational day 14. Furthermore, the presence or absence of maternal weight loss predicted MK-801 and amphetamine stimulated locomotor abnormalities in offspring. MK-801 stimulated locomotion was altered in offspring of all poly I:C treated dams; however, the presence or absence of maternal weight loss resulted in decreased and modestly increased locomotion, respectively. Adult offspring of poly I:C treated dams that lost weight exhibited significantly decreased amphetamine stimulated locomotion, while offspring of poly I:C treated dams without weight loss performed similarly to vehicle controls. Social isolation and increased maternal age predicted weight loss in response to poly I:C but not vehicle injection. In combination, these data identify environmental factors associated with the maternal response to immune challenge and functional outcome of offspring exposed to maternal immune activation.