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Transgenerational transmission and modification of pathological traits induced by prenatal immune activation.
- Source :
-
Molecular psychiatry [Mol Psychiatry] 2017 Jan; Vol. 22 (1), pp. 102-112. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Mar 29. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Prenatal exposure to infectious or inflammatory insults is increasingly recognized to contribute to the etiology of psychiatric disorders with neurodevelopmental components, including schizophrenia, autism and bipolar disorder. It remains unknown, however, if such immune-mediated brain anomalies can be transmitted to subsequent generations. Using an established mouse model of prenatal immune activation by the viral mimetic poly(I:C), we show that reduced sociability and increased cued fear expression are similarly present in the first- and second-generation offspring of immune-challenged ancestors. We further demonstrate that sensorimotor gating impairments are confined to the direct descendants of infected mothers, whereas increased behavioral despair emerges as a novel phenotype in the second generation. These transgenerational effects are mediated via the paternal lineage and are stable until the third generation, demonstrating transgenerational non-genetic inheritance of pathological traits following in-utero immune activation. Next-generation sequencing further demonstrated unique and overlapping genome-wide transcriptional changes in first- and second-generation offspring of immune-challenged ancestors. These transcriptional effects mirror the transgenerational effects on behavior, showing that prenatal immune activation leads to a transgenerational transmission (presence of similar phenotypes across generations) and modification (presence of distinct phenotypes across generations) of pathological traits. Together, our study demonstrates for, we believe, the first time that prenatal immune activation can negatively affect brain and behavioral functions in multiple generations. These findings thus highlight a novel pathological aspect of this early-life adversity in shaping disease risk across generations.
- Subjects :
- Adaptive Immunity immunology
Animals
Autistic Disorder immunology
Autistic Disorder pathology
Bipolar Disorder immunology
Bipolar Disorder pathology
Brain pathology
Brain Diseases immunology
Brain Diseases pathology
Disease Models, Animal
Female
Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical veterinary
Male
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Pregnancy
Schizophrenia immunology
Schizophrenia pathology
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects immunology
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects pathology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1476-5578
- Volume :
- 22
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Molecular psychiatry
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 27021823
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2016.41