ArticlePsychological medicine2021
Male fetus susceptibility to maternal inflammation: C-reactive protein and brain development.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between Maternal Choline, Fetal Brain Development, and Child Neurocognition: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Human Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Pooled it
- Prenatal Origins of Stress Regulation: Maternal Psychological Distress and Inflammation During Pregnancy Prospectively Predict Infant Behavioral Reactivity and Regulation.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Prenatal targeted maternal pregnancy metabolomic profiles, child emotional and behavioral problems, and autism related traits in the NYU CHES cohort.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Maternal inflammation and oxidative stress during pregnancy in relation to early childhood neurodevelopment.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Exploring offspring behaviour after prenatal COVID-19 vaccination in mice.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Perinatal hardship and infant neurodevelopment: insights from a global pandemic.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Improved red blood cell storage quality of blood from donors carrying the hypermorphic PIMT I120 variant.HemaSphere · 2026Article
- Converging Evidence of a Specific Vulnerability of Young Boys to Parental Childhood Trauma.JAACAP open · 2025Article
- Functional Impairments in Learning and Signal Propagation Following Prenatal Kynurenine Treatment in Mice.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Article
- Maternal Immune Activation and Child Brain Development: A Longitudinal Population-Based Multimodal Neuroimaging Study.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2025Article
- Examining longitudinal associations between prenatal exposure to infections and child brain morphology.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2024Article
- Urinary phenol and paraben concentrations in association with markers of inflammation during pregnancy in Puerto Rico.The Science of the total environment · 2024Article
- Sex-based disparities in DNA methylation and gene expression in late-gestation mouse placentas.Biology of sex differences · 2024Article
- Seasonal variation in air pollutant levels and its effects on the sex ratio at birth on Fukue island, Japan.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Adverse outcomes in SARS-CoV-2-infected pregnant mice are gestational age-dependent and resolve with antiviral treatment.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2023Article
- Association between history of miscarriage and autism spectrum disorder.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Article
- Associations between the human immune system and gut microbiome with neurodevelopment in the first 5 years of life: A systematic scoping review.Developmental psychobiology · 2023Article
- Choline - a scoping review for Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023.Food & nutrition research · 2023Article
- Environmental Risk Factors and Cognitive Outcomes in Psychosis: Pre-, Perinatal, and Early Life Adversity.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2023Review
- C-Reactive Protein (CRP): A Potent Inflammation Biomarker in Psychiatric Disorders.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMaternal inflammation in early pregnancy has been identified epidemiologically as a prenatal pathogenic factor for the offspring's later mental illness. Early newborn manifestations of the effects of maternal inflammation on human fetal brain development are largely unknown.
methodsMaternal infection, depression, obesity, and other factors associated with inflammation were assessed at 16 weeks gestation, along with maternal C-reactive protein (CRP), cytokines, and serum choline. Cerebral inhibition was assessed by inhibitory P50 sensory gating at 1 month of age, and infant behavior was assessed by maternal ratings at 3 months of age.
resultsMaternal CRP diminished the development of cerebral inhibition in newborn males but paradoxically increased inhibition in females. Similar sex-dependent effects were seen in mothers' assessment of their infant's self-regulatory behaviors at 3 months of age. Higher maternal choline levels partly mitigated the effect of CRP in male offspring.
conclusionsThe male fetal-placental unit appears to be more sensitive to maternal inflammation than females. Effects are particularly marked on cerebral inhibition. Deficits in cerebral inhibition 1 month after birth, similar to those observed in several mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, indicate fetal developmental pathways that may lead to later mental illness. Deficits in early infant behavior follow. Early intervention before birth, including prenatal vitamins, folate, and choline supplements, may help prevent fetal development of pathophysiological deficits that can have life-long consequences for mental health.
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