(A) Representative superimposed traces of single action potentials from cultured hippocampal neurons from offspring of saline (left panel) and polyI:C (right panel) -injected mothers. Solitary spike was evoked by 2 ms squared pulse injection of current steps starting from 50 pA in 50 pA increments. (B) CA1 pyramidal neurons from offspring of polyI:C-injected mothers have significantly higher rheobase current compared to those from offspring of saline-injected mothers (398 ± 36 pA, n = 24 from 7 polyI:C-injected mothers versus 257 ± 22 pA, n = 27 from 6 saline-injected mothers, t(49) = 3.34, p < 0.001). (C) representative traces of evoked spiking activity of CA1 pyramidal neurons from offspring of saline (top)- and polyI:C (lower)-injected mothers, respectively. Spiking activity was evoked by 400 ms squared pulse injection of series of current steps starting from 0 pA up to 225 pA in 25 pA increments. (D) The spike frequency of offspring from polyI:C-injected mothers is lower compared to that from saline-injected mothers. Repeated ANOVA yielded main effects of stimulation current, prenatal treatment and significant interaction between stimulation current and prenatal treatment (F(9, 369) = 272.8, p < 0.0001; F(1, 41) = 10.86, p < 0.005; F(9, 369) = 2.65, p < 0.006, respectively; post hoc p’s < 0.05; n = 21 from offspring of 6 polyI:C injected mothers versus, n = 22 from offspring of 6 saline injected mothers).