Topic: in utero exposure

Anti-NMDA receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is associated with the presence of autoantibodies against subunit 1 of the NMDA receptor (NR1) resulting in a variety of psychiatric symptoms as well as cognitive and motor impairments. These autoantibodies can arise in adulthood but also during pregnancy where they have been shown to affect the developing foetal brain and are implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders including autism and learning disabilities. Binding of these autoantibodies causes internalization of surface NMDAR leading to their reduced expression and disrupted signalling. To what ex

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is a multifactorial neurodevelopmental pathology, resulting from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. However, the contribution of each of these two components to the onset and/or the evolution of ASD remains undetermined. Hence the aim of our research project is to evaluate the impact of an in utero exposure to a cocktail of fungicide residues at a European regulatory dose on the brain development of a well-established ASD model, the CNTNAP2 gene-deficient mouse. In order to determine whether the chronic exposure to fungicide might increase the s