ArticleMolecular psychiatry2026
Maternal immune activation disrupts epigenomic and functional maturation of cortical excitatory neurons.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Exploring epigenetic modifications following maternal immune activation: a focus on cross-species translational potential.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Elevated levels of maternal pro-inflammatory cytokines following severe infection during gestation can disrupt offspring neural development and increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders. The viral mimetic Poly(I:C) reproduces the effects of gestational influenza exposure, leading to behavioral outcomes that recapitulate neurodevelopmental disorder phenotypes. Although Poly(I:C)-induced maternal immune activation (PIC-MIA) alters the epigenome, behavior and cognition of offspring in adulthood, it remains unclear when these changes occur and how MIA influences the epigenomic regulatory programming across the transition from embryonic development to the mature brain. Here, we examined the effects of PIC-MIA on the epigenomic maturation of the frontal cortex, focusing on excitatory neuron-specific DNA methylation and transcriptomic dynamics throughout perinatal development. Mid-gestation PIC-MIA disrupted development of the excitatory neuron transcriptome, with the largest alterations observed at birth. PIC-MIA altered the development of the mature DNA methylation program of excitatory neurons at thousands of genomic regulatory regions that normally gain or lose methylation during development. Transcription factor binding site analyses of these differentially methylated regions revealed a significant enrichment of Tbr1 motifs within hyper-methylated deep-layer neuron-specific regions at birth. Notably, transcriptional targets of Tbr1 were down-regulated at birth despite up-regulation of Tbr1 transcription, suggesting PIC-MIA uncouples Tbr1 expression from its regulatory function in deep-layer neurons. Electrophysiological recordings of intrinsic and firing properties further confirmed a lasting disruption in deep-layer neuronal activity. Our results suggest that mid-gestation MIA may alter the development of deep-layer neurons through an epigenomic blockade of Tbr1 function, thereby perturbing normal cortical circuit formation.
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Registered trials
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