Maternal IL-6 during pregnancy can be estimated from newborn brain connectivity and predicts future working memory in offspring
Open accessAbstract
Several lines of evidence support the link between maternal inflammation during pregnancy and increased likelihood of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in offspring. This longitudinal study seeks to advance understanding regarding implications of systemic maternal inflammation during pregnancy, indexed by plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentrations, for large-scale brain system development and emerging executive function skills in offspring. We assessed maternal IL-6 during pregnancy, functional magnetic resonance imaging acquired in neonates, and working memory (an important component of executive function) at 2 years of age. Functional connectivity within and between multiple neonatal brain networks can be modeled to estimate maternal IL-6 concentrations during pregnancy. Brain regions heavily weighted in these models overlap substantially with those supporting working memory in a large meta-analysis. Maternal IL-6 also directly accounts for a portion of the variance of working memory at 2 years of age. Findings highlight the association of maternal inflammation during pregnancy with the developing functional architecture of the brain and emerging executive function.
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There is a relationship between maternal Interleukin-6 concentration during pregnancy and altered newborn brain structure and functional connectivity.
“The literature points to a relationship between maternal Interleukin-6 concentration during pregnancy and altered newborn brain structure and functional connectivity [140, 141].”
From Brain structural and functional outcomes in the offspring of women experiencing psychological distress during pregnancy (2024) · cites this paper as [141]
The Results report significant associations between maternal IL-6 concentrations during pregnancy and newborn functional brain connectivity. The paper does not report an association with altered newborn brain structure; its anatomical images were used to process the functional imaging data (Methods: MRI and fMRI data preprocessing; page numbers unavailable). (LLM, conf=0.88)
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References 66 · Cited by 374
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [57]Talairach P Tournoux J Co-planar Stereotaxic Altas of the Human Brain Georg Thieme Verlag 1988
- Authors
- Rudolph, M. D., Graham, A. M., Feczko, E., Miranda-Dominguez, O., Rasmussen, J. M., Nardos, R., Entringer, S., Wadhwa, P. D., Buss, C., & Fair, D. A.
- Affiliations
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Buss, Claudia
- Fair, Damien A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Neuroscience
- Published
- 2018-04-09
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 765-772
- ISSN
- 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-1726
- PMC
- PMC5920734
- OpenAlex
- W2797215799
- Cited by
- 374
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 71 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 15
- FWCI
- 25.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR001414)
- National Institute of Mental Health (F32MH105283, K99MH091238, R01MH115357, R01MH091351, K99MH111805, R00MH091238, R01MH096773, R00MH111805, R01MH105538)
- U.S. National Library of Medicine (T15LM007088)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Neonatal and fetal brain pathology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Keywords
- working memory, executive function, offspring neurodevelopment, neurodevelopmental disorders, prenatal inflammation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Animals, Brain, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Emotions, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Longitudinal Studies, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Neural Pathways, Predictive Value of Tests, Pregnancy, Psychomotor Performance, Interleukin-6, Executive Function
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