Expression data from adult mouse Prefrontal Cortex following prenatal infection

Prenatal exposure to infectious or inflammatory insults can increase the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders with neurodevelopmental components, including schizophrenia and autism. The molecular processes underlying this pathological association are only partially understood. Here, we implemented an unbiased genome-wide transcriptional profiling of the prefrontal cortex of mice exposed to prenatal infection on GD17 compared to control subjects in order to elucidate the long term molecular signature of late prenatal infection. We used microarray analysis to investigate the long lasting gene expression changes in a well-established mouse model that is based on maternal treatment with the viral mimic poly(I:C) during pregnancy C57BL/6 mice were treated with the synthetic viral mimetic poly(I:C) (5 mg/kg, i.v.) or control (saline, i.v.) solution on gestation day 17. Offspring were subjected to cognitive and behavioral testing in adulthood, and then whole genome gene expression analysis with Affymetrix Microarray and subsequent q-PCR validation were performed on the prefrontal Cortex.