Effect of influenza A virus infection during pregnancy on the developing fetal brain

Epidemiological studies link NDDs with exposure to maternal viral infection in utero. As the immature brain is vulnerable to insult, it is thought that prenatal inflammation alters neurodevelopmental trajectories, leading to NDD pathologies. Using a biologically relevant mouse model of live influenza (flu) infection during pregnancy, we aim to determine if gestational flu infection triggers detrimental maternal cell signaling that leads to NDD-relevant pathologies in offspring. Overall, this work will improve translation to the clinic and will build a foundation for developing targeted therapeutics for NDDs that can be delivered during gestation. On GD9.5, pregnant dams were randomly assigned to infected or control groups. They were then anesthetized by inhalation of isoflurane before intranasal inoculation with mouse-adapted IAV (subtype H3N2, strain X31) 104 tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50) in sterile saline. Control animals were inoculated with sterile saline.