Neonatal immune challenge induces female-specific changes in social behavior and somatostatin cell number.

ABSTRACT: Decreases in social behavior are a hallmark aspect of acute "sickness behavior" in response to infection. However, immune insults that occur during the perinatal period may have long-lasting consequences for adult social behavior by impacting the developmental organization of underlying neural circuits. Microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system, are sensitive to immune stimulation and play a critical role in the developmental sculpting of neural circuits, making them likely mediators of this process. Here, we investigated the impact of a postnatal day (PND) 4 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge on social behavior in adult mice. Somewhat surprisingly, neonatal LPS treatment decreased sociability in adult female, but not male mice. LPS-treated females also displayed r

SUBMITTER: Smith CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7556772 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature