Maternal immune activation exerts long‐term effects on activity and sleep in male offspring mice

Aug 30, 2024The European journal of neuroscience

Maternal immune activation linked to lasting changes in activity and sleep in male mice offspring

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Abstract

Offspring of poly(I:C)-treated mothers exhibited reduced home cage activity during the subjective night.

Maternal immune activation during pregnancy is linked to long-term behavioral dysfunctions in offspring.
Adult male mice exposed to maternal immune activation showed increased non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep duration.
These mice also displayed a higher density of sleep spindles compared to non-exposed counterparts.
Following sleep deprivation, poly(I:C)-exposed offspring extended NREM sleep duration and prolonged sleep bouts during the dark phase.
Significant alterations in NREM sleep EEG spectral power were observed under increased sleep pressure in these mice.

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Exposure to infectious or non-infectious immune activation during early development is a serious risk factor for long-term behavioural dysfunctions. Mouse models of maternal immune activation (MIA) have increasingly been used to address neuronal and behavioural dysfunctions in response to prenatal infections. One commonly employed MIA model involves administering poly(I:C) (polyriboinosinic-polyribocytdilic acid), a synthetic analogue of double-stranded RNA, during gestation, which robustly induces an acute viral-like inflammatory response. Using electroencephalography (EEG) and infrared (IR) activity recordings, we explored alterations in sleep/wake, circadian and locomotor activity patterns on the adult male offspring of poly(I:C)-treated mothers. Our findings demonstrate that these offspring displayed reduced home cage activity during the (subjective) night under both light/dark or constant darkness conditions. In line with this finding, these mice exhibited an increase in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep duration as well as an increase in sleep spindles density. Following sleep deprivation, poly(I:C)-exposed offspring extended NREM sleep duration and prolonged NREM sleep bouts during the dark phase as compared with non-exposed mice. Additionally, these mice exhibited a significant alteration in NREM sleep EEG spectral power under heightened sleep pressure. Together, our study highlights the lasting effects of infection and/or immune activation during pregnancy on circadian activity and sleep/wake patterns in the offspring.

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Maternal immune activation exerts long‐term effects on activity and sleep in male offspring mice

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