Figure 6.

Maternal immune activation increases sMHCI and decreases glutamatergic synapse density on cortical neurons from newborn offspring. A, Surface MHCI (H2-Kb/H2-Db) is almost doubled on acutely dissociated neurons from P0 FC from newborn offspring of poly(I:C)-injected (MIA) mothers compared to those from saline-injected (control) offspring, as assessed using flow cytometry; n ≥ 5 experiments. B, Representative images of dendritic sMHCI on 8 DIV mouse cortical neurons cultured from FC of MIA or control offspring. Scale bar, 5 μm. C, The density of sMHCI puncta is almost doubled in neurons from MIA offspring; n ≥ 89 cells per condition, ≥7 experiments. D, Representative images of synapses on dendrites from cultured MIA and control neurons immunostained for excitatory synapse density using antibodies against PSD-95 (green) and VAMP2 (red). Scale bar, 5 μm. E, Excitatory synapse density is decreased over twofold on neurons cultured from MIA offspring compared with control offspring; n ≥ 88 cells (264 dendrites) per condition, six experiments. F, The increase in sMHCI on MIA neurons returns to control levels following β2m RNAi. MIA or saline neurons were transfected with EGFP + β2m or NTS shRNAs for 48 h before quantification of sMHCI; n ≥ 24 dendrites (8 cells) per condition, three experiments. G, The MIA-induced decrease in synapse density is rescued by preventing the MIA-induced increase in sMHCI. Synapse density is graphed normalized to control (saline neurons transfected with NTS RNAi); n ≥ 21 dendrites (7 cells), two experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.