Reversing behavioural abnormalities in mice exposed to maternal inflammation.

Viral infection during pregnancy is correlated with increased frequency of neurodevelopmental disorders, and this is studied in mice prenatally subjected to maternal immune activation (MIA). We previously showed that maternal T helper 17 cells promote the development of cortical and behavioural abnormalities in MIA-affected offspring. Here we show that cortical abnormalities are preferentially localized to a region encompassing the dysgranular zone of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1DZ). Moreover, activation of pyramidal neurons in this cortical region was sufficient to induce MIA-associated behavioural phenotypes in wild-type animals, whereas reduction in neural activity rescued the behavioural abnormalities in MIA-affected offspring. Sociability and repetitive behavioural phenotypes could be selectively modulated according to the efferent targets of S1DZ. Our work identifies a cortical region primarily, if not exclusively, centred on the S1DZ as the major node of a neural network that mediates behavioural abnormalities observed in offspring exposed to maternal inflammation.

Effects of ECM protein micropatterns on the migration and differentiation of adult neural stem cells.

The migration and differentiation of adult neural stem cells (aNSCs) are believed to be strongly influenced by the spatial distribution of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in the stem cell niche. In vitro culture platform, which involves the specific spatial distribution of ECM protein, could offer novel tools for better understanding of aNSC behavior in the spatial pattern of ECM proteins. In this work, we applied soft-lithographic technique to design simple and reproducible laminin (LN)-polylysine cell culture substrates and investigated how aNSCs respond to the various spatial distribution of laminin, one of ECM proteins enriched in the aNSC niche. We found that aNSC preferred to migrate and attach to LN stripes, and aNSC-derived neurons and astrocytes showed significant difference in motility towards LN stripes. By changing the spacing of LN stripes, we were able to control the alignment of neurons and astrocytes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to investigate the differential cellular responses of aNSCs on ECM protein (LN) and cell adhesive synthetic polymer (PDL) using surface micropatterns. Our findings would provide a deeper understanding in astrocyte-neuron interactions as well as ECM-stem cell interactions.