Maternal Immune Activation by Poly I:C as a preclinical Model for Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A focus on Autism and Schizophrenia

Authors

Faraj L. Haddad, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Salonee V. Patel, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Susanne Schmid, Schulich School of Medicine & DentistryFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2020

Journal

Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews

Volume

113

First Page

546

Last Page

567

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.04.012

Abstract

Maternal immune activation (MIA) in response to a viral infection during early and mid-gestation has been linked through various epidemiological studies to a higher risk for the child to develop autism or schizophrenia-related symptoms. This has led to the establishment of the pathogen-free poly I:C-induced MIA animal model for neurodevelopmental disorders, which shows relatively high construct and face validity. Depending on the experimental variables, particularly the timing of poly I:C administration, different behavioural and molecular phenotypes have been described that relate to specific symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and/or schizophrenia. We here review and summarize epidemiological evidence for the effects of maternal infection and immune activation, as well as major findings in different poly I:C MIA models with a focus on poly I:C exposure timing, behavioural and molecular changes in the offspring, and characteristics of the model that relate it to autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.