The complicated domino effects of Maternal Immune Activation

Val's Take/Conjecture

• There are several factors that can result in Maternal Immune Activation (MIA).
• MIA is associated with Neuro-Developmental and Psychiatric Disorders in the Child.
  • Why is that?

​Influence of Immune System Abnormalities Caused by Maternal Immune Activation in the Postnatal Period  (2023)

"The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) indicate that fetal tissues and organs in critical and sensitive periods of development are susceptible to structural and functional changes due to the adverse environment in utero. Maternal immune activatio …"

​Maternal immune activation induces sustained changes in fetal microglia motility (2020)

​Maternal immune activation and neuroinflammation in human neurodevelopmental disorders (2021)

"Evidence from human and animal studies indicates that maternal immune activation programmes the
fetal brain and immune system through inflammatory and
epigenetic mechanisms during key periods

• of CNS [Central Nervous System],
• microglial and
• immune system development, and
• colonization of gut microbiota."

Mid-pregnancy maternal immune activation increases Pax6-positive and Tbr2-positive neural progenitor cells and causes integrated stress response in the fetal brain in a mouse model of maternal viral infection (2021)

​"Mid-pregancy maternal immune activation increases Pax6-positive and Tbr2-positive neural progenitor cells and causes integrated stress response in the fetal brain in a mouse model of . . ."

Paliperidone Reversion of Maternal Immune
Activation-Induced Changes on Brain Serotonin and Kynurenine Pathways 
​(2021)

"Inflammation can alter the metabolism of tryptophan through the oxidative kynurenine pathway to compounds with neurotoxic and neuroprotective activity and compromise serotonin (5-HT) synthesis. Here we investigate the role of serotonergic and kynurenine …"

Lasting and Sex-Dependent Impact of Maternal Immune Activation on Molecular Pathways of the Amygdala (2020)

Maternal Immune Activation Disrupts Dopamine System in the Offspring (2016) 

"Our study, the first to combine electrophysiological and microdialysis experiments on the dopamine system in a maternal immune activation model of schizophrenia, reveals that . . ."

Dysregulation of immune and metabolism pathways in maternal  (2023)

"Maternal immune activation regulates the dysregulation of four key risk KEGG pathways related to immunity, metabolism, and nervous system leading to abnormal embryonic . . ."

​Val's Take

• Compared to where we have been in our knowledge of the Neuro-Developmental/Psychiatric Continuum ---
• Researchers around the world are providing a COHERENT UNDERSTANDING with a LEVEL of DETAIL that is MIND-BLOWING.
• Neuro-Transmitters like Serotonin and Dopamine are still there ---- BUT the Context and Complexity has been expanded Exponentially.