A recent study on mice suggests that contracting a viral infection during pregnancy could increase the likelihood of autism in offspring. Irene Sanchez Martin, a postdoctoral researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, revealed that mouse embryos may display early developmental issues following the mother’s exposure to a virus.
“The model we use is well-established for studying autism spectrum disorder,” Sanchez Martin said. “What sets my work apart is that I examine the embryos 24 hours after exposure to maternal inflammation, instead of focusing on the offspring’s behavior as adults.”
Autism, which affects about one in 36 children in the U.S., is a developmental disorder that influences how individuals learn, communicate, and interact with others. While there is no single known cause, genetics and environmental factors are believed to contribute.
Researchers have long studied maternal immune activation — the idea that inflammation due to infection during pregnancy could impact the fetus’s brain development, raising the risk of autism. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory noted that Sanchez Martin’s research offers the first glimpse into how prenatal inflammation affects embryos in an autism model.
Her findings showed that while all female mouse embryos seemed to be protected from developmental issues, up to one-third of the male embryos were significantly affected. Boys, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are almost four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls.
Sanchez Martin presented her findings at the Society for Neuroscience conference in Chicago. She hopes her work will help identify early signs of autism, potentially even before birth.
This study follows research from the University of Michigan and CDC, which found that children born with congenital cytomegalovirus — a common viral infection — are nearly 2.5 times more likely to develop autism. The virus is believed to trigger maternal immune activation, and researchers are pushing for routine neonatal screening for cytomegalovirus, which often shows no symptoms during pregnancy or at birth.
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