Prenatal Influences on Brain and Behavioral Development

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The effects of maternal influenza exposure on the developing fetal brain and the associated risk for behavioral and hormone dysfunction will be examined. The importance of virus-induced changes in maternal immunity and placental physiology will be analyzed with respect to the development of the infant postpartum. The studies proposed for this fellowship are designed to: 1) create a nonhuman primate model of flu infection during pregnancy; 2) identify the physical, behavioral, and neuroendocrine profiles of flu-exposed and control infants; 3) measure hippocampal vulnerability to prenatal insult using structural MR imaging and assessment of the HPA axis in cortisol release and negative feedback. Development of a nonhuman primate model that utilizes a human derived strain of the influenza virus has important implications for understanding how flu exposure during pregnancy may impact the mental and physical health of children. Furthermore, these findings are relevant to neuropsychiatric diseases and cognitive disorders that may be due to disturbed prenatal development, involving high levels of maternal cytokines or steroid hormones that interrupt normal neuronal differentiation and development of the brain [unreadable] [unreadable]