ArticleBiological psychiatry2018
Maternal Systemic Interleukin-6 During Pregnancy Is Associated With Newborn Amygdala Phenotypes and Subsequent Behavior at 2 Years of Age.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 185 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
185 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 281 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prenatal psychological distress and neurodevelopmental trajectories in the first 3 years: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- The association between maternal immune activation and brain structure and function in human offspring: a systematic review.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Association between interleukin-6 and preterm birth: a meta-analysis.Annals of medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Vitamin D status and inflammatory Interleukins in women with and without polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome: a cross-sectional exploratory study.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Associations between chronic placental inflammation, fetal brain development and later autism traits.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Immune proteomic associations with indices of cortical development in 5-year-old children.Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Prenatal Origins of Stress Regulation: Maternal Psychological Distress and Inflammation During Pregnancy Prospectively Predict Infant Behavioral Reactivity and Regulation.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- The Earliest Impressions: A Systematic Review of Early-Life Exposures on Brain Structure and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The Impact of Childhood Trauma on Neuropsychological Disorders and Its Intergenerational Transmission Mechanisms.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Maternal sleep deprivation and developmental programming of brain aging trajectories in offspring.Biogerontology · 2026Review
- Modeling Prenatal Immune Activation in Human Brain Organoids Uncovers IL-6-Dependent Interneuron Dysmaturation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Ventromedial hypothalamus IL-6 signaling mediates the excessive aggressive behavior induced by late-gestational sleep deprivation in male mice.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2026Article
- Maternal Infection Induces Neuronal Structure and Behavioural Alterations in Experimental Meningitis Rat Model.Developmental neuroscience · 2026Article
- Annual Research Review: Early conduct problems - precursors, outcomes, and etiology.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Review
- Child inhibitory control in toddlerhood: associations with child interaction skills with the mother.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Maternal Childhood Maltreatment, Development of Amygdala Volume, and Anxiety Symptoms in Offspring.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Evaluating the effects of maternal diabetes on early infant neurodevelopment with a novel combination of four neurodevelopmental tools.Early human development · 2026Article
- Maternal Multiple Sclerosis and Offspring's Developmental and Behavioral Profile: A Case-control Study.Current neuropharmacology · 2026Article
- Maternal infection - but not inflammation - is associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms during childhood: a population-based cohort study.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Neuroplacentology of stress: Novel frontiers linking maternal mental health to offspring neurodevelopment.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Review
125 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
11 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMaternal inflammation during pregnancy increases the risk for offspring psychiatric disorders and other adverse long-term health outcomes. The influence of inflammation on the developing fetal brain is hypothesized as one potential mechanism but has not been examined in humans.
methodsParticipants were adult women (N = 86) who were recruited during early pregnancy and whose offspring were born after 34 weeks' gestation. A biological indicator of maternal inflammation (interleukin-6) that has been shown to influence fetal brain development in animal models was quantified serially in early, mid-, and late pregnancy. Structural and functional brain magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired in neonates shortly after birth. Infants' amygdalae were individually segmented for measures of volume and as seeds for resting state functional connectivity. At 24 months of age, children completed a snack delay task to assess impulse control.
resultsHigher average maternal interleukin-6 concentration during pregnancy was prospectively associated with larger right amygdala volume and stronger bilateral amygdala connectivity to brain regions involved in sensory processing and integration (fusiform, somatosensory cortex, and thalamus), salience detection (anterior insula), and learning and memory (caudate and parahippocampal gyrus). Larger newborn right amygdala volume and stronger left amygdala connectivity were in turn associated with lower impulse control at 24 months of age, and mediated the association between higher maternal interleukin-6 concentrations and lower impulse control.
conclusionsThese findings provide new evidence in humans linking maternal inflammation during pregnancy with newborn brain and emerging behavioral phenotypes relevant for psychiatric disorders. A better understanding of intrauterine conditions that influence offspring disease susceptibility is warranted to inform targeted early intervention and prevention efforts.
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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.