Maternal Immune Activation Hypotheses for Human Neurodevelopment: Some Outstanding Questions.

The maternal immune activation hypothesis is a leading model for understanding prenatal influences on individual differences in, and clinical syndromes of, neurodevelopment. Experimental animal and human research has proliferated in recent years, and there is now a sizable research base. Several meta-analyses demonstrate general support for an association between prenatal immune activation and neurodevelopment in human research. However, questions remain about the nature of the immune activation, network of underlying mechanisms involved, and breadth of impact across behavioral phenotypes. Complementing recent reviews of results, the current review places particular emphasis on how a better understanding of mechanisms may be achieved with greater attention to addressing the methodological variation and limitations of existing studies and identifies areas for further clinical research.