BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

• There is evidence in animal models that maternal inflammation can impact fetal brain development, but human studies are limited
• Working memory is a core component of executive function and can be measured from as early as age 2
  • Also related to future academic and social skills
• Rudolph et al. (Nature Neuroscience, 2018) studied the association between systemic maternal inflammation during pregnancy on brain development and working memory in offspring

METHODS:

• Neonates who were included in the study are part of an ongoing longitudinal study for which mothers were recruited during the first trimester
• Maternal Exclusion
  • Maternal use of psychotropic medications, corticosteroids, alcohol or drug use during
• Fetal Exclusion
  • Congenital, genetic or neurologic disorder of the fetus
• Infant Exclusion
  • Birth < 34 weeks gestation
  • Evidence of a congenital, genetic or neurologic disorder
• Maternal IL-6 levels during pregnancy were used as an indicator of maternal inflammation
• Resting-state functional connectivity MRI, network-based analytics and multivariate machine-learning methodologies were used to assess newborn functional brain network topology
• Additionally, working memory (an important component of executive function) was assessed at 2 years of age
• Functional connectivity within and between multiple neonatal brain networks can be modeled to estimate maternal IL-6 concentrations during pregnancy

RESULTS:

• 84 neonates were included in the study (N = 84; M = 25.45 days, SD = 12.09 days; 50% female)
• 46 children took part in the working memory test at 2 years of age
• Brain regions heavily weighted in these models overlap substantially with regions associated with working memory
• Maternal IL-6 concentrations accounts for a portion of the variance of working memory at 2 years of age
• Increased systemic immune activation is associated with decreased working memory performance at 2 years

CONCLUSION:

• There appears to be an association between maternal inflammation (using IL-6 concentrations as an index) and developing functional architecture of the brain and emerging executive function
• More research is required in high risk populations
  • Suggests that even small variation in IL-6 may be important

Learn More – Primary Sources:

Maternal IL-6 during pregnancy can be estimated from newborn brain connectivity and predicts future working memory in offspring

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