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| via educationworld.com |
"Babies born to mothers whose immune systems had to grapple with a viral assault—even a mild one—have increased risk of brain and central nervous system abnormalities, according to a new study.
A USC-led team of researchers examined how the immune systems of pregnant mice (roughly equivalent to human mothers in their first trimester) reacted to a chemical that mimics a viral infection akin to the flu. Levels of tryptophan, an amino acid that activates the immune system, increased, causing the placenta to produce more serotonin, which led to higher concentrations of serotonin in the fetal brain.
Previous studies have linked viral-based inflammation during pregnancy and the risk for developmental disorders such as autism, cognitive delay and schizophrenia in offspring, according to the study.
"Serotonin is very important for fetal brain development and can modulate the way the fetal brain is wired," said Alexandre Bonnin, senior author and an assistant professor of cell and neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. "In response to boosted serotonin levels coming from the placenta, the fetal brain stunted its own genesis of serotonin neurons, probably because receptors sensed there was too much serotonin in there.
That can be a problem, especially when it leads to the front of the brain being not developed as much as it should be..."
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