Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41849379›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026

Mild SARS-CoV-2 maternal infection in mice induces transient offspring neurodevelopmental aberrance.

Wesley Tung, Matthew Yuen, Helen Cai, Hyesun Cho, Peiwen Lu, Harvey J Kliman, Robert J Homer, Alexa Herrerias, Nikkita Salla, Arianna Rodriguez Rivera and 3 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Mild SARS-CoV-2 maternal infection in mice induces transient offspring neurodevelopmental aberrance.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Wesley Tung *Department of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.ORCID 0000-0002-4577-3926
Matthew Yuen *Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
Helen CaiChild Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
Hyesun ChoDepartment of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
Peiwen LuDepartment of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
Harvey J KlimanDepartment of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.ORCID 0000-0002-2151-7071
Robert J HomerDepartment of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.ORCID 0000-0002-2055-5885
Alexa HerreriasDepartment of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
Nikkita SallaDepartment of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
Arianna Rodriguez RiveraDepartment of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
Yuting LiuDepartment of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
Kartik PattabiramanDepartment of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.ORCID 0000-0002-3924-426X
Akiko IwasakiDepartment of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.ORCID 0000-0002-7824-9856

Funding

NEUROBIOLOGY OF CORTICAL SYSTEMST32NS007224 · NINDS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI CARDIN, JESSICA A · 1985 to 2025
$4.6M
Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) N/AHHMI (HHMI) N/ANINDS NIH HHS T32 NS007224
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Maternal viral infection during pregnancy has been identified as a risk factor for psychiatric disorders and neurodevelopmental abnormalities in offspring. With cumulative SARS-CoV-2 infections now numbering in the hundreds of millions globally, there is a need to evaluate the effects of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection on offspring brain development and behavior. We developed a mouse model of mild COVID-19 during pregnancy in which SARS-CoV-2 infection is restricted to the respiratory tract. Infected mothers did not show weight loss or changes in litter size, but did exhibit detectable local and systemic immune responses, including placental inflammation. Characterization of the offspring's cerebral cortex revealed transcriptomic changes in the fetus at E15 and on postnatal day 5 (P5), but no gross alterations in cytoarchitecture, synaptic density, or microglial abundance. We did not detect any significant changes in open-field or novel object recognition tests in P50 offspring born to SARS-CoV-2-infected dams. These findings suggest that mild maternal respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection induces soluble factors that mediate placental inflammation and transient cerebral cortex alterations in offspring that resolve by later childhood.

Indexed as

COVID-19Neurodevelopmental DisordersPregnancy Complications, InfectiousPrenatal Exposure Delayed EffectsSARS-CoV-2AnimalsCerebral CortexDisease Models, AnimalFemaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLNeurodevelopmentPlacentaPregnancyanimal behaviorcentral nervous systemfetal developmentmaternal infectionpregnancy

Identifiers

PMID41849379
PMCPMC13012083

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.