A recent study has come up with the fact that infections in the mother can lead to psychiatric disorders in the baby.
It has also been observed in both humans and animals that severe infections in the pregnant mother are a risk factor for developing psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders later in the life of the offspring.
The new study is published in the scientific journal — Molecular Psychiatry.
“While many factors have been hypothesised or indicated, it is important that we show the steps of neuronal development that are actually affected,” said Konstantin Khodosevich, Associate Professor in the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC).
The researchers studied the development of neurons in mice.
Themother’s immune response to infection had an effect stretching from stem cells and precursor cells to neuronal cells leading to profound disruption in their development in the brain.
More specifically, the development of cortical GABAergic interneurons – the key neuronal class that provides inhibition in the brain – was impaired.
The effect was immediate and cascaded to dramatic long-lasting impairments, thus resulting in multiple “hits” during the process of neuronal development – from the time neurons are born to the time they mature.
Furthermore, the researchers also concluded that the newborn mice showed symptoms resembling those from human psychiatric disorders including decreased prepulse inhibition, altered social interactions, and cognitive decline. (ANI)
