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Sexually Dimorphic Effects Of A Prenatal Immune Challenge On Social Play And Vasopressin Expression In Juvenile Rats, Patrick V. Taylor, Alexa H. Veenema, Matthew J. Paul, Remco Bredewold, Stephanie Isaacs, Geert J. De Vries

Geert De Vries

Background: Infectious diseases and inflammation during pregnancy increase the offspring’s risk for behavioral disorders. However, how immune stress affects neural circuitry during development is not well known. We tested whether a prenatal immune challenge interferes with the development of social play and with neural circuits implicated in social behavior. Methods: Pregnant rats were given intraperitoneal injections of the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS – 100 μg /kg) or saline on the 15th day of pregnancy. Offspring were tested for social play behaviors between postnatal days 26–40. Brains were harvested on postnatal day 45 and processed for arginine vasopressin (AVP) mRNA in …