Supplementation with D-serine prevents the onset of cognitive deficits in adult offspring after maternal immune activation

Prenatal maternal infection contributes to the etiology of schizophrenia, with D-serine, an endogenous co-agonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, playing a role in the pathophysiology of this disease. We examined whether supplementation with D-serine during juvenile and adolescent stages could prevent the onset of cognitive deficits, prodromal and the core symptoms of schizophrenia in adult offspring after maternal immune activation (MIA). Juvenile offspring exposed prenatally to poly(I:C) showed reduced expression of NMDA receptor subunits in the hippocampus. Supplementing drinking water with D-serine (600 mg/L from P28 to P56) prevented the onset of cognitive deficits in adult offspring after MIA, in a significant manner. This study shows that supplementing offspring with D-serine during juvenile and adolescent stages could prevent the onset of psychosis in adulthood, after MIA. Therefore, early intervention with D-serine may prevent the occurrence of psychosis in high-risk subjects.