Maternal immune activation dysregulation of the fetal brain transcriptome and relevance to the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder.

ABSTRACT: Maternal immune activation (MIA) via infection during pregnancy is known to increase risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is unclear how MIA disrupts fetal brain gene expression in ways that may explain this increased risk. Here we examine how MIA dysregulates rat fetal brain gene expression (at a time point analogous to the end of the first trimester of human gestation) in ways relevant to ASD-associated pathophysiology. MIA downregulates expression of ASD-associated genes, with the largest enrichments in genes known to harbor rare highly penetrant mutations. MIA also downregulates expression of many genes also known to be persistently downregulated in the ASD cortex later in life and which are canonically known for roles in affecting prenatally late developmental processe

SUBMITTER: Lombardo MV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5608645 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature