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Baby brains reflect maternal inflammation

Epidemiology and animal research have shown that the offspring of mothers who experience inflammation during pregnancy are at increased risk for psychopathology. A human study links a mother’s inflammation during pregnancy to her newborn’s functional brain organization and the child’s working memory two years later.

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Fig. 1: Links between maternal inflammation, neonatal functional brain organization, and toddler working memory.

Marina Corral Spence/Springer Nature

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Correspondence to Monica D. Rosenberg.

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Rosenberg, M.D. Baby brains reflect maternal inflammation. Nat Neurosci 21, 651–653 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0134-0

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