Journal
IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGY AND IMMUNOTOXICOLOGY
Volume 35, Issue 5, Pages 581-593Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.3109/08923973.2013.828745
Keywords
Dependence receptors; development; kynurenines; poly(I:C); sonic hedgehog; synuclein; Unc5H1
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Funding
- BBSRC Scholarship in Organismal Biology (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)
- Malaysian Government
- Epsom Medical Research
- Peacock Trust
- Haddon Family Trust
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Activation of the immune system during pregnancy is believed to lead to psychiatric and neurological disorders in the offspring, but the molecular changes responsible are unknown. Polyinosinic: polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)) is a viral-mimetic double-stranded RNA complex which activates Toll-Like-Receptor-3 and can activate the metabolism of tryptophan through the oxidative kynurenine pathway to compounds that modulate activity of glutamate receptors. The aim was to determine whether prenatal administration of poly(I:C) affects the expression of neurodevelopmental proteins in the offspring and whether such effects were mediated via the kynurenine pathway. Pregnant rats were treated with poly(I:C) during late gestation and the offspring were allowed to develop to postnatal day 21 (P21). Immunoblotting of the brains at P21 showed decreased expression of sonic hedgehog, a key protein in dopaminergic neuronal maturation. Expression of alpha-synuclein was decreased, while tyrosine hydroxylase was increased. Disrupted in Schizophrenia-1 (DISC-1) and 5-HT2C receptor levels were unaffected, as were the dependence receptors Unc5H1, Unc5H3 and Deleted in Colorectal Cancer (DCC), the inflammation-related transcription factor NFkB and the inducible oxidative enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). An examination of embryo brains 5 h after maternal poly(I:C) showed increased expression of GluN2B, with reduced doublecortin and DCC but no change in NFkB. Despite altered protein expression, there were no changes in the kynurenine pathway. The results show that maternal exposure to poly(I:C) alters the expression of proteins in the embryos and offspring which may affect the development of dopaminergic function. The oxidation of tryptophan along the kynurenine pathway is not involved in these effects.
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