Gastrointestinal nematode infection during pregnancy and lactation enhances spatial reference memory and reduces indicators of anxiety-like behaviour in uninfected adult female mouse offspring.

Maternal bacterial and viral infections that induce neuroinflammation in the developing brain are associated with impaired cognitive function and increased anxiety in the offspring. In contrast, maternal infection with the immunoregulatory murine gastrointestinal (GI) nematode, , appears to benefit neurodevelopment as juvenile 2- and 3-week-old male and female offspring had enhanced spatial memory, which may be due to a Th2/Treg biased neuroimmune environment. Here, the impact of maternal infection during pregnancy and lactation on the spatial and anxiety-like behaviours of adult, 3-month-old uninfected male and female offspring was explored for the first time.

Maternal gastrointestinal nematode infection enhances spatial memory of uninfected juvenile mouse pups.

The developing brain is particularly vulnerable to factors including maternal infection during pregnancy. Establishment of neural networks critical for memory and cognition begins during the perinatal period, when Heligmosomoides bakeri, a gastrointestinal (GI) nematode restricted to the maternal mouse intestine, has been shown to upregulate expression of long-term potentiation genes in the young rodent pup brain. We explored the impact of maternal infection during pregnancy and early lactation on the spatial behavior of uninfected male and female juvenile mice.