Late gestation immune activation increases IBA1-positive immunoreactivity levels in the corpus callosum of adult rat offspring

Schizophrenia has complex neurodevelopmental origins underpinned by genetic and environmental factors (Owen et  al., 2005; Wilson and Terry, 2010). Many of these environmental risk factors impact on the prenatal stages of development, with alterations in the maternal-foetal environment having the potential to produce long-lasting and significant influence on normal neurodevelopmental processes (Lewis and L evitt, 2002). Considerable epidemiological evidence has shown that exposure to bacterial (Babulas et al., 2006; Sorensen et al., 2009) or viral infection (reviewed in Brown and Derkits (2010)) during pregnancy increases the risk of schizophrenia developing in the offspring by up to 7 fold (Brow n et al., 2004a).

Source: Psychiatry Research - May 25, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Ryan J. Duchatel, Crystal L. Meehan, Lauren R. Harms, Patricia T. Michie, Mark J. Bigland, Doug W. Smith, Frederick R. Walker, Phillip Jobling, Deborah M. Hodgson, Paul A. Tooney Source Type: research