Maternal Infection can Affect Offspring Throughout Their Life, But Timing Plays a Role as to How

Abstract

Early brain development marks a period of vulnerability during gestation that when disturbed, can lead to changes in physical, mental, social and cognitive development in offspring, including risk for neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Meyer et al., 2006). These disturbances have an incredibly strong link to maternal infection, but more specifically, the body’s cytokine-associated immune response. Studies show a direct link between an excess of cytokines and changes (behavior reminiscent of ASD, schizophrenia, and obsessiveness) in the offspring, although cytokines aren’t the only major factor at play. Different trimesters of gestation open up different periods of vulnerability to the developing fetus during which cytokines in the fetal brain may respond in different ways that can lead to dysfunction in the offspring (Meyer et al., 2006). One group in particular conducted a study of mice to demonstrate how infection during the first or second trimester of pregnancy can have different effects on the offspring and their behavioral development later in life.