ReviewExperimental neurology2018
Beyond infection - Maternal immune activation by environmental factors, microglial development, and relevance for autism spectrum disorders.
Review in Experimental neurology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 172 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
172 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 306 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between maternal immune activation and brain structure and function in human offspring: a systematic review.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Maternal atopic conditions and autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Evidence of susceptibility to autism risks associated with early life ambient air pollution: A systematic review.Environmental research · 2022Pooled it
- Maternal immune activation generates anxiety in offspring: A translational meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Maternal acute and chronic inflammation in pregnancy is associated with common neurodevelopmental disorders: a systematic review.Translational psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Outdoor Air Pollution and Brain Structure and Function From Across Childhood to Young Adulthood: A Methodological Review of Brain MRI Studies.Frontiers in public health · 2019Pooled it
- Prenatal exposure to environmental stressors alters gut macrophage development and gastrointestinal function of male offspring.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Pathological Priming and Developmental Heterochrony as Organizing Concepts in Human iPSC Models of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Prenatal and Lactation Exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA) at the Global Mean Daily Intake Level Leads to Sex-Dependent Changes in Microglial State, Gene Expression, and Behavioral Patterns in Newborn and Juvenile Wistar Rat Offspring.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Soluble P2X7 receptor (sP2X7R) as a marker of inflammation in pregnancy.Purinergic signalling · 2026Article
- Prenatal Stress Induced by Maternal Immune Activation Disrupts GABAergic Inhibition and Mossy Fiber Plasticity in the Rat Dentate Gyrus-CA3 Circuit.Hippocampus · 2026Article
- A Developmental Neuroimmune Cascade Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Mild pediatric traumatic brain injury has sex-specific effects on neuroimmune cells and social behavior in rats.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Environmental pollutants and autism spectrum disorder: Effects of plasticizers on core phenotypes and molecular targets.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026Article
- The NLRP3 Inflammasome in Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Molecular Mechanisms and Emerging Therapeutic Strategies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Captopril restores microglial homeostasis and reverses ASD-like phenotype in a model of ASD induced by exposure in utero to anti-caspr2 IgG.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Viral modulation of synaptic pruning: implications for neuropathology and brain function.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- Cumulative environmental exposures adversely impact social behaviour and are associated with dysregulation of genes and proteins involved in epigenetic, ribosomal, and immune regulation in male mice.Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2026Article
- Longitudinal metabolome profiling from pregnancy through childhood and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders at age 10.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Microglia in autism spectrum disorder: heterogeneity, immunometabolism, and synapse-related pathways.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
112 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Immune molecules such as cytokines and chemokines and the cells that produce them within the brain, notably microglia, are critical for normal brain development. This recognition has in recent years led to the working hypothesis that inflammatory events during pregnancy, e.g. in response to infection, may disrupt the normal expression of immune molecules during critical stages of neural development and thereby contribute to the risk for neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This hypothesis has in large part been shepherded by the work of Dr. Paul Patterson and colleagues, which has elegantly demonstrated that a single viral infection or injection of a viral mimetic to pregnant mice significantly and persistently impacts offspring immune and nervous system function, changes that underlie ASD-like behavioral dysfunction including social and communication deficits. Subsequent studies by many labs - in humans and in non-human animal models - have supported the hypothesis that ongoing disrupted immune molecule expression and/or neuroinflammation contributes to at least a significant subset of ASD. The heterogeneous clinical and biological phenotypes observed in ASD strongly suggest that in genetically susceptible individuals, environmental risk factors combine or synergize to create a tipping or threshold point for dysfunction. Importantly, animal studies showing a link between maternal immune activation (MIA) and ASD-like outcomes in offspring involve different species and diverse environmental factors associated with ASD in humans, beyond infection, including toxin exposures, maternal stress, and maternal obesity, all of which impact inflammatory or immune pathways. The goal of this review is to highlight the broader implications of Dr. Patterson's work for the field of autism, with a focus on the impact that MIA by diverse environmental factors has on fetal brain development, immune system development, and the pathophysiology of ASD.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.