Sex-specific associations between maternal prenatal inflammation and offspring cortical morphology in youth: A harmonised study across four birth cohorts - UTU Research Portal

A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Sex-specific associations between maternal prenatal inflammation and offspring cortical morphology in youth: A harmonised study across four birth cohorts

Authors: Niskanen, Anni; Barron, Aaron; Azaryah, Hatim; Kerkelä, Martta; Pulli, Elmo; Tuulari, Jetro J.; Lukkarinen, Minna; Karlsson, Linnea; Muetzel, Ryan L.; Campoy, Cristina; Catena, Andrés; Tiemeier, Henning; Khandaker, Golam M.; Karlsson, Hasse; Veijola, Juha; Björnholm, Lassi

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Publication year: 2025

Journal: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

Journal name in source: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

Article number: 123

Volume: 123

First page : 1081

Last page: 1090

ISSN: 0889-1591

eISSN: 1090-2139

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2024.11.010

Web address : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2024.11.010

Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/477198441

Abstract

Maternal immune activation (MIA) during pregnancy is implicated in offspring psychiatric disorders. However, it is unknown to what extent MIA affects neurodevelopment, particularly cerebrocortical anatomy, in the general population, and whether effects differ by sex. The current study used vertex-wise statistics to examine the association between maternal prenatal CRP, an archetypal systemic inflammatory marker, and offspring cortical thickness, surface area, and volume, in 2635 mother–child dyads (5.4–26.5 years) from three population-based cohorts, and one clinical cohort enriched for presence of inflammation markers. Maternal CRP within a normal physiological range (<10 mg/L) exhibited sex-specific quadratic associations with cortical morphological measures in 2 regions in males and 1 region in females at childhood. Elevated (>10 mg/L) CRP was associated with regional cortical morphology in females and in a pooled sample of sexes. Overall, MIA is associated with cortical development in a regional and sex-specific manner in studies spanning childhood to adulthood.

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Funding information in the publication:
AN acknowledges funding support from Olvi Foundation. AB acknowledges funding support from Irish Research Council (grant no: GOIPG/2019/4400). LK acknowledges funding support from Academy of Finland (grant no: 308176). JJT acknowledges funding support from Finnish Medical Foundation, Juho Vainio Foundation, Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Turku University Foundation, Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation, Finnish State Grants for Clinical Research, Sigrid Juselius Foundation, and Alfred Kordelin Foundation. Generation R Neuroimaging infrastructure and image analysis were funded via the Sophia Foundation, Netherlands (S18-20), the Erasmus MC Fellowship, and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, Snellius HPC, 2021.042). RLM was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant: 1R01MH124776-01A1). GMK acknowledges funding support from the Wellcome Trust (grant no: 201486/Z/16/Z and 201486/B/16/Z), the UK Medical Research Council (grant no: MC_UU_00032/06; MR/W014416/1; and MR/S037675/1), and the UK National Institute of Health Research Bristol Biomedical Research Centre (grant no: NIHR 203315). JV acknowledges funding support from Academy of Finland (grant no: 332445). LB acknowledges funding support from Orion Research Foundation sr and Iso-Mällinen Foundation.