Early life alcohol exposure primes hypothalamic microglia to later-life hypersensitivity to immune stress: possible epigenetic mechanism.

ABSTRACT: Growing evidence has shown that developmental alcohol exposure induces central nervous system inflammation and microglia activation, which may contribute to long-term health conditions, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. These studies sought to investigate whether neonatal alcohol exposure during postnatal days (PND) 2-6 in rats (third trimester human equivalent) leads to long-term disruption of the neuroimmune response by microglia. Exposure to neonatal alcohol resulted in acute increases in activation and inflammatory gene expression in hypothalamic microglia including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 6 (IL-6). Adults with neonatal alcohol pre-exposure (alcohol fed; AF) animals showed an exaggerated peripheral stress hormonal response to an immune challenge (lip

SUBMITTER: Chastain LG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6785096 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature