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Maternal IL-6 during pregnancy can be estimated from newborn brain connectivity and predicts future working memory in

Marc D Rudolph1, Alice M Graham1, Eric Feczko1,2

  • 1Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.

Nature Neuroscience
|April 11, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Maternal inflammation during pregnancy, indicated by interleukin-6 (IL-6), impacts neonatal brain network development. This inflammation is linked to later executive function skills in children.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Immunology

Background:

  • Maternal inflammation during pregnancy is associated with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in offspring.
  • Systemic inflammation, indexed by plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6), may influence brain development and cognitive functions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the implications of maternal systemic inflammation during pregnancy on large-scale brain network development in neonates.
  • To examine the association between maternal IL-6 levels and emerging executive function skills, specifically working memory, in 2-year-old children.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study assessing maternal plasma IL-6 concentrations during pregnancy.
  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in neonates to model brain network functional connectivity.
  • Assessment of working memory in offspring at 2 years of age.

Main Results:

  • Neonatal brain network functional connectivity patterns can predict maternal IL-6 concentrations during pregnancy.
  • Brain regions identified in these predictive models significantly overlap with areas crucial for working memory.
  • Maternal IL-6 levels during pregnancy directly explain a portion of the variance in offspring's working memory at 2 years of age.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal inflammation during pregnancy is associated with alterations in the developing functional architecture of the brain.
  • These findings suggest a link between prenatal inflammation and the emergence of executive function skills in early childhood.

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