Maternal Brain TNF-α Programs Innate Fear in the Offspring. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a cytokine that not only coordinates local and systemic immune responses [1, 2] but also regulates neuronal functions. Most prominently, glia-derived TNF-α has been shown to regulate homeostatic synaptic scaling [3-6], but TNF-α-null mice exhibited no apparent cognitive or emotional abnormalities. Instead, we found a TNF-α-dependent intergenerational effect, as mothers with a deficit in TNF-α programmed their offspring to exhibit low innate fear. Cross-fostering and conditional knockout experiments indicated that a TNF-α deficit in the maternal brain, rather than in the hematopoietic system, and during gestation was responsible for the low-fear offspring phenotype. The level of innate fear governs the balance between exploration/foraging and avoidance of predators and is thus fundamentally important in adaptation, fitness, and survival [7]. Because maternal exercise and activity are known to reduce both brain TNF-α [8] and offspring innate fear [9], whereas maternal stress has been reported to increase brain TNF-α [10] and offspring fear and anxiety [11, 12], maternal brain TNF-α may report environmental conditions to promote offspring behavioral adaptation to their anticipated postnatal environment.

publication date

  • November 30, 2017

Research

keywords

  • Anxiety
  • Brain
  • Fear
  • Mice
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC6170164

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85035783338

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.cub.2017.10.071

PubMed ID

  • 29199072

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 27

issue

  • 24