Dissertation Defense Schedule
Academic Excellence
Sharing original dissertation research is a principle to which the University of Delaware is deeply committed. It is the single most important assignment our graduate students undertake and upon completion is met with great pride.
We invite you to celebrate this milestone by attending their dissertation defense. Please review the upcoming dissertation defense schedule below and join us!
PROGRAM | Neuroscience
The Effects of Prenatal Maternal Immune Activation on Behavioral and Neural Outcomes in Offspring Across Development
By: Mary Beth Hall Chair: Jaclyn Schwarz
ABSTRACT
Exposure to maternal immune activation (MIA) during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk for offspring to be diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). The maternal and fetal immune response to infection is thought to disrupt important developmental processes in offspring that can have long-lasting effects on their neuroimmune function and behavior. NDDs – such as autism, schizophrenia, and general learning disabilities – are more common in males than females. This suggests there are sex differences in neurodevelopment that may be differently affected by MIA to contribute to the symptoms of such disorders. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate how MIA affects rat offspring by evaluating their reflex development as neonates (Aim 1), their adult anxiety, learning, and memory behaviors (Aim 2), and their neuroimmune state both at basal levels across the lifespan (Aims 1 and 3) and in response to a secondary immune challenge in adulthood (Aim 3). We hypothesized that MIA would produce a neuroinflammatory state in offspring that would negatively affect these behavioral processes, and that males would be more affected by this than females.
The experiments of this dissertation utilized a model of MIA that exposed female Sprague-Dawley rats to lipopolysaccharide during gestation to mimic an immune response to bacterial infection. We found that MIA enhanced the development of neonatal reflexes in both male and female offspring and did not affect maternal arched-back nursing nor licking and grooming toward pups (Aim 1). In adulthood, MIA offspring displayed reduced anxiety in the elevated-plus maze and improved performance of novel object location memory (Aim 2). Additionally, MIA induced latent inhibition in female offspring that were pre-exposed to the innocuous tone during conditioned fear training and prevented latent inhibition of context and tone fear conditioned memory in male offspring (Aim 2). Finally, in the offspring medial prefrontal cortex, MIA upregulated IL-1β at P7 and downregulated IL-6 at P21 in both sexes, and decreased BDNF in the dorsal hippocampus of males at P21 (Aim 1). In adulthood (Aim 3), MIA did not affect the pro-inflammatory immune response to adult LPS exposure but did downregulate basal gene expression in the dorsal hippocampus (IL-6, CD11b, BDNF) and amygdala (IL-1β) of adult offspring. These findings suggest that the relationship between MIA and the etiology and manifestation of NDD-related symptoms in offspring is more complex than the literature suggests. Nonetheless, the results of this dissertation support that MIA can produce profound and long-lasting effects on offspring neuroimmune and behavioral processes.
The Process
Step-by-Step
Visit our “Step-by-Step Graduation Guide” to take you through the graduation process.From formatting your Dissertation to Doctoral Hooding procedures.
Dissertation Manual
Wondering how to set up the format for your paper. Refer to the “UD Thesis/Dissertation Manual” for formatting requirements and more.
Defense Submission Form
This form must be completed two weeks in advance of a dissertation defense to meet the University of Delaware Graduate and Professional Education’s requirements.
