title: Peripheral immune challenge with viral mimic during early postnatal period robustly enhances anxiety-like behavior in young adult rats.
abstract: Inflammatory factors associated with immune challenge during early brain development are now firmly implicated in the etiologies of schizophrenia, autism and mood disorders later in life. In rodent models, maternal injections of inflammagens have been used to induce behavioral, anatomical and biochemical changes in offspring that are congruent with those found in human diseases. Here, we studied whether inflammatory challenge during the early postnatal period can also elicit behavioral alterations in adults. At postnatal day 14, rats were intraperitoneally injected with a viral mimic, polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (PIC). Two months later, these rats displayed remarkably robust and consistent anxiety-like behaviors as evaluated by the open field/defensive-withdrawal test. These results demonstrate that the window of vulnerability to inflammatory challenge in rodents extends into the postnatal period and offers a means to study the early sequelae of events surrounding immune challenge to the developing brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, West Virginia University School of Medicine, P.O. Box 9128, Morgantown, WV 26506-9128, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Konat
authors.forename: Brent E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Lally
authors.forename: Anastasia A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Toth
authors.forename: Adrienne K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Salm
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000833:Animals, Suckling; D001007:Anxiety / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000276:immunology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D011070:Poly I-C / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D011070:Poly I-C