Meningeal immunity as a novel target for treating neurodevelopmental disorders induced by maternal immune activation

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Maternal inflammation during pregnancy is one of the risk factors for autism in offspring. In the present study using experimental animals, we showed that bone marrow-derived immune cells were stationed in the meningeal space that covered the brain parenchyma. The meningeal immunity played a key role to sense and react to peripheral inflammatory responses, resulting in the activation of brain parenchymal cells. Intracranial immune cells were located to the cephalic mesenchyme (meningeal precursors) during the fetal period, but not to the brain parenchyma. Therefore, we suggest that the effects of maternal inflammation on the fetal brains are induced by the reactions exerted by the cephalic mesenchymal immune cells during pregnancy.