Maternal IL-6 during pregnancy can be estimated from newborn brain connectivity and predicts future working memory in offspring

Several lines of evidence support the link between maternal inflammation during pregnancy and increased likelihood of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in offspring. This longitudinal study seeks to advance understanding regarding implications of systemic maternal inflammation during pregnancy, indexed by plasma IL-6 concentrations, for large-scale brain system development and emerging executive function (EF) skills in offspring. Maternal IL-6 was assessed during pregnancy, functional MRI acquired in neonates, and working memory (an important component of EF) examined at 2-years-of-age. Functional connectivity within and between multiple neonatal brain networks can be modeled to estimate maternal IL-6 concentrations during pregnancy. Brain regions heavily weighted in these models overlap significantly with those supporting working memory in a large meta-analysis. Maternal IL-6 also directly accounts for a portion of the variance of working memory at two-years-of-age. Findings highlight the association of maternal inflammation during pregnancy with the developing functional architecture of the brain and emerging EF.