Maternal immune activation: implications for neuropsychiatric disorders

By M. Estes, A. McAllister. Science, 2016

1,056 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Epidemiological evidence implicates maternal infection as a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. Animal models corroborate this link and demonstrate that maternal immune activation (MIA) alone is sufficient to impart lifelong neuropathology and altered behaviors in offspring. This Review describes common principles revealed by these models, highlighting recent findings that strengthen their relevance for schizophrenia and autism and are starting to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of MIA on offspring. The role of MIA as a primer for a much wider range of psychiatric and neurologic disorders is also discussed. Finally, the need for more research in this nascent field and the implications for identifying and developing new treatments for individuals at heightened risk for neuroimmune disorders are considered.

Subfields: Biological Psychiatry, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/70e346df06748a0e6435133309a1011e2a43f998

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Biological Psychiatry

1. T. Sampson
2. S. Mazmanian
3. J. Cryan

In Social Psychology

1. Audrey M. Kolb
2. R. Karpinski
3. T. Sampson
4. Nicole A. Tetreault
5. T. Borowski
6. S. Mazmanian
7. J. Cryan

Citations in the corpus

• The Central Nervous System and the Gut Microbiome (2016, background): “Immune activation during gestation has potentially severe implications on offspring physiology, neuropathology, and behavior, as well as the microbiome (reviewed by Estes and McAllister, 2016; Knuesel et al., 2014).”
• High intelligence: A risk factor for psychological and physiological overexcitabilities (2018, background): “Maternal immune dysregulation in the form of an inflammatory response to infection or an immune disorder, has been shown to be a risk factor for neuropsychiatric disorders in addition to correlating with a later diagnosis of autism (Estes & McAllister, 2016).”