ArticleNature neuroscience2018
Maternal IL-6 during pregnancy can be estimated from newborn brain connectivity and predicts future working memory in offspring.
Article in Nature neuroscience, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 238 papers, 5 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.
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Who cites it
238 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 392 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between maternal immune activation and brain structure and function in human offspring: a systematic review.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Early systemic inflammation induces neurodevelopmental disorders: results from ARTEMIS, a French multicenter study of juvenile rheumatisms and systemic autoimmune and auto-inflammatory disorders and meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Parental autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders as multiple risk factors for common neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of parental rheumatoid arthritis on risk of autism spectrum disorders in offspring: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effect of a Mediterranean Diet or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction During Pregnancy on Child Neurodevelopment: A Prespecified Analysis of the IMPACT BCN Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2023Trial
- Cortical thickness as predictor of response to exercise in people with Parkinson's disease.Human brain mapping · 2021Trial
- Associations between chronic placental inflammation, fetal brain development and later autism traits.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Plasticity of the infant immune system during the perinatal period.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026Review
- Prenatal Origins of Stress Regulation: Maternal Psychological Distress and Inflammation During Pregnancy Prospectively Predict Infant Behavioral Reactivity and Regulation.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Inflammatory Stress Response During Pregnancy as a Connecting Link in Intergenerational Risk Cascades.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Unraveling the long-term consequences of antenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection on early childhood neurodevelopment.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Connectome-based predictive modeling of concurrent and longitudinal substance use vulnerability in adolescence.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Modeling Prenatal Immune Activation in Human Brain Organoids Uncovers IL-6-Dependent Interneuron Dysmaturation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Maternal and cord-blood inflammatory markers and BDNF in diabetic vs. non-diabetic pregnancies.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Neurodevelopmental comorbidities in juvenile systemic autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2026Review
- Article
- The Sooner, the Better: Neuroprotective Strategies in Fetuses With Congenital Heart Disease.Prenatal diagnosis · 2026Review
- Evaluating the effects of maternal diabetes on early infant neurodevelopment with a novel combination of four neurodevelopmental tools.Early human development · 2026Article
- Prenatal and postnatal effects of gestational immune activation on synaptic and neurodevelopmental pathways via epigenetic mechanisms.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
178 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Several lines of evidence support the link between maternal inflammation during pregnancy and increased likelihood of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in offspring. This longitudinal study seeks to advance understanding regarding implications of systemic maternal inflammation during pregnancy, indexed by plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentrations, for large-scale brain system development and emerging executive function skills in offspring. We assessed maternal IL-6 during pregnancy, functional magnetic resonance imaging acquired in neonates, and working memory (an important component of executive function) at 2 years of age. Functional connectivity within and between multiple neonatal brain networks can be modeled to estimate maternal IL-6 concentrations during pregnancy. Brain regions heavily weighted in these models overlap substantially with those supporting working memory in a large meta-analysis. Maternal IL-6 also directly accounts for a portion of the variance of working memory at 2 years of age. Findings highlight the association of maternal inflammation during pregnancy with the developing functional architecture of the brain and emerging executive function.
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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.