Ketharanathan T, Pereira A, Reets U, Walker D, Sundram S. Brain changes in NF-κB1 and epidermal growth factor system markers at peri-pubescence in the spiny mouse following maternal immune activation.
Psychiatry Res 2021;
295:113564. [PMID:
33229121 DOI:
10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113564]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Accepted: 11/05/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Environmental risk factors that operate at foetal or neonatal levels increase the vulnerability to schizophrenia, plausibly via stress-immune activation that perturbs the epidermal growth factor (EGF) system, a system critical for neurodevelopment. We investigated potential associations between environmental insults and immune and EGF system changes through a maternal immune activation (MIA) model, using the precocial spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus). After mid-gestation MIA prepubescent offspring showed elevated NF-κB1 protein in nucleus accumbens, decreased EGFR in caudate putamen and a trend for increased PI3K-110δ in ventral hippocampus. Thus, prenatal stress may cause a heightened NF-κB1-mediated immune attenuation of EGF system signalling.
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