Acceleration of age-related learning and memory decline in middle-aged CD-1 mice due to maternal exposure to lipopolysaccharide during late pregnancy

▶ Using conventional behavioral methods, the hypothesis that prenatal inflammation increase the vulnerability of the brain to later neurodegeneration is tested. ▶ The effects of prenatal challenging of the immune system may have behavioral effects on brain aging in a dose dependent manner. ▶ Maternal exposure to lipopolysaccharide in adequate dose in late gestation can deliver term offspring which experience a normal duration of development and maturation, and an accelerated aged-related impairment in memory and species-typical behaviors.