Variability in PolyIC Induced Immune Response: Implications for Preclinical Maternal Immune Activation Models

Overview

Journal J Neuroimmunol

Specialty Neurology

Date 2018 Sep 11

PMID 30196839

Citations 23

Authors

Milo Careaga

Sandra L Taylor

Carolyn Chang

Alex Chiang

Katherine M Ku

Robert F Berman

Judy A Van de Water

Melissa D Bauman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Maternal infection during pregnancy may increase the risk of offspring neurodevelopmental disorders. The preclinical Polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (PolyIC) model has become one of the most widely used approaches in maternal immune activation (MIA) research. However, variability in molecular weight may impact the immune activating potential of PolyIC. Nulliparous rats injected with high molecular weight PolyIC exhibit pronounced cytokine response and sickness behavior that was not observed in rats injected low molecular weight PolyIC. Although an essential next step is to extend these studies to pregnant animals, the preliminary results suggest that PolyIC molecular weight is an important experimental design consideration.

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