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Impaired Synaptic Development In A Maternal Immune Activation Mouse Model Of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Pierluca Coiro, Ragunathan Padmashri, Anand Suresh, Elizabeth Spartz, Gurudutt Pendyala, Shinnyi Chou, Yoosun Jung, Brittney Meays, Shreya Roy, Nagsen Gautam, Yazen Alnouti, Ming Li, Anna Dunaevsky

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Both genetic and environmental factors are thought to contribute to neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders with maternal immune activation (MIA) being a risk factor for both autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. Although MIA mouse offspring exhibit behavioral impairments, the synaptic alterations in vivo that mediate these behaviors are not known. Here we employed in vivo multiphoton imaging to determine that in the cortex of young MIA offspring there is a reduction in number and turnover rates of dendritic spines, sites of majority of excitatory synaptic inputs. Significantly, spine impairments persisted into adulthood and correlated with increased repetitive behavior, an ASD relevant …