An examination of changes in maternal neuroimmune function during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

ABSTRACT: There is strong evidence that the immune system changes dramatically during pregnancy in order to prevent the developing fetus from being "attacked" by the maternal immune system. Due to these alterations in peripheral immune function, many women that suffer from autoimmune disorders actually find significant relief from their symptoms throughout pregnancy; however, these changes can also leave the mother more susceptible to infections that would otherwise be mitigated by the inflammatory response (Robinson and Klein, 2012). Only one other study has looked at changes in microglial number and morphology during pregnancy and the postpartum period (Haim et al., 2016), but no one has yet examined the neuroimmune response following an immune challenge during this time. Therefore, in this study,

SUBMITTER: Sherer ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6348474 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature