ArticleCurrent biology : CB2017
Maternal Brain TNF-α Programs Innate Fear in the Offspring.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- TNF-α modulation by rice bran peptides: implications for gut microbiota stability and cognitive health in aging.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- The Neurovascular Unit as a Locus of Injury in Low-Level Blast-Induced Neurotrauma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
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- Progressive Transcriptional Changes in the Amygdala Implicate Neuroinflammation in the Effects of Repetitive Low-Level Blast Exposure in Male Rats.Journal of neurotrauma · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) as a possible risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Review
- Early Life Exposure to Tumor Necrosis Factor Induces Precocious Sensorimotor Reflexes Acquisition and Increases Locomotor Activity During Mouse Postnatal Development.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Article
- Immune activity at birth and later psychopathology in childhood.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2020Article
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 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a cytokine that not only coordinates local and systemic immune responses [1, 2] but also regulates neuronal functions. Most prominently, glia-derived TNF-α has been shown to regulate homeostatic synaptic scaling [3-6], but TNF-α-null mice exhibited no apparent cognitive or emotional abnormalities. Instead, we found a TNF-α-dependent intergenerational effect, as mothers with a deficit in TNF-α programmed their offspring to exhibit low innate fear. Cross-fostering and conditional knockout experiments indicated that a TNF-α deficit in the maternal brain, rather than in the hematopoietic system, and during gestation was responsible for the low-fear offspring phenotype. The level of innate fear governs the balance between exploration/foraging and avoidance of predators and is thus fundamentally important in adaptation, fitness, and survival [7]. Because maternal exercise and activity are known to reduce both brain TNF-α [8] and offspring innate fear [9], whereas maternal stress has been reported to increase brain TNF-α [10] and offspring fear and anxiety [11, 12], maternal brain TNF-α may report environmental conditions to promote offspring behavioral adaptation to their anticipated postnatal environment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.