ArticleBehavioural brain research2016
An investigation into the effects of antenatal stressors on the postpartum neuroimmune profile and depressive-like behaviors.
Article in Behavioural brain research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- [Inflammatory Biomarkers and Postpartum Depression: A Systematic Review of Literature].Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2019Pooled it
- Reproductive history differentially shapes the neural response of middle-aged hAPOEɛ4 female rats to estradiol therapy after a metabolic challenge.Biology of sex differences · 2026Article
- Gestational stress disrupts the neuroimmune environment in the nucleus accumbens of maternal rats.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Air pollution mixture exposure during pregnancy and postpartum psychological functioning: racial/ethnic- and fetal sex-specific associations.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2025Article
- Hormonal contraceptives in adolescence impact the neuroimmune environment of the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in female rats.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Transcriptomic Alterations in the Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex of Rats with Chronic Unpredictable Stress Induced by Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Peripartum buprenorphine and oxycodone exposure impair maternal behavior and increase neuroinflammation in new mother rats.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Gestational stress disrupts dopamine and oxytocin signaling in the postpartum reward system of rats: implications for mood, motivation and mothering.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- T helper-1 activation via interleukin-16 is a key phenomenon in the acute phase of severe, first-episode major depressive disorder and suicidal behaviors.Journal of advanced research · 2024Article
- In major dysmood disorder, physiosomatic, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia symptoms are driven by immune activation and increased immune-associated neurotoxicity.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Microglia depletion facilitates the display of maternal behavior and alters activation of the maternal brain network in nulliparous female rats.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Cellular and molecular signatures of motherhood in the adult and ageing rat brain.Open biology · 2023Article
- Gestational stress decreases postpartum mitochondrial respiration in the prefrontal cortex of female rats.Neurobiology of stress · 2023Article
- Is There an Inflammatory Profile of Perinatal Depression?Current psychiatry reports · 2023Review
- Less can be more: Fine tuning the maternal brain.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2022Review
- The role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of perinatal depression and offspring outcomes.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2021Review
- Immune System Alterations and Postpartum Mental Illness: Evidence From Basic and Clinical Research.Frontiers in global women's health · 2021Review
- Pregnancy, postpartum and parity: Resilience and vulnerability in brain health and disease.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2020Review
- An IL-6 receptor antagonist attenuates postpartum anhedonia, but has no effect on anhedonia precipitated by subchronic stress in female rats.Psychopharmacology · 2019Article
- Intergenerational transmission of depression: clinical observations and molecular mechanisms.Molecular psychiatry · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Postpartum depression is a specific type of depression that affects approximately 10-15% of mothers [28]. While many have attributed the etiology of postpartum depression to the dramatic change in hormone levels that occurs immediately postpartum, the exact causes are not well-understood. It is well-known, however, that pregnancy induces a number of dramatic changes in the peripheral immune system that foster the development of the growing fetus. It is also well-known that changes in immune function, specifically within the brain, have been linked to several neuropsychiatric disorders including depression. Thus, we sought to determine whether pregnancy induces significant neuroimmune changes postpartum and whether stress or immune activation during pregnancy induce a unique neuroimmune profile that may be associated with depressive-like behaviors postpartum. We used late-gestation sub-chronic stress and late-gestation acute immune activation to examine the postpartum expression of depressive-like behaviors, microglial activation markers, and inflammatory cytokines within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the hippocampus (HP). The expression of many immune molecules was significantly altered in the brain postpartum, and postpartum females also showed significant anhedonia, both independently of stress. Following late-gestation immune activation, we found a unique set of changes in neuroimmune gene expression immediately postpartum. Thus, our data indicate that even in the absence of additional stressors, postpartum females exhibit significant changes in the expression of cytokines within the brain that are associated with depressive-like behavior. Additionally, different forms of antenatal stress produce varying profiles of postpartum neuroimmune gene expression and associated depressive-like behaviors.
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Registered trials
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