Maternal Influenza Infection Model
Objective: To establish a maternal influenza infection model in pregnant mice and assess behavioral and pharmacological changes in adult offspring, including deficits in prepulse inhibition, exploratory behavior, and social interaction
This is a Maternal Influenza Infection Model protocol using mouse as the model organism. The procedure involves 7 procedural steps, 3 equipment items, 5 materials. Extracted from a 2003 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
mouse • BALB/c and C57BL/6 • Not specified • Adult offspring (age at testing not specified) • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Maternal respiratory infection with influenza virus • Prepulse inhibition testing • Acute drug administration testing
Primary readouts
- Prepulse inhibition (PPI) in acoustic startle response
- Behavioral responses to antipsychotic drugs (clozapine, chlorpromazine)
- Behavioral responses to psychomimetic drug (ketamine)
- Exploratory behavior in open-field test
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
Confirm first
- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
- Check that every direct vendor link matches the exact specification your lab plans to run.
Use the page like this
- Work through the protocol steps in order and use the inline vendor chips only when you need to source or verify an item.
- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
Start here. The step list is optimized for running the experiment, with direct vendor links available inline when you need to source a cited item.
Maternal respiratory infection with influenza virus
Pregnant mice (BALB/c and C57BL/6 strains) are infected via respiratory route with human influenza virus
Note: Infection occurs during pregnancy; offspring are tested as adults
View evidence from paper
“respiratory infection of pregnant mice (both BALB/c and C57BL/6 strains) with the human influenza virus yields offspring that display highly abnormal behavioral responses as adults”
Prepulse inhibition testing
Adult offspring are tested for deficits in prepulse inhibition in the acoustic startle response
Note: Compared with control mice
View evidence from paper
“these offspring display deficits in prepulse inhibition (PPI) in the acoustic startle response. Compared with control mice”
Acute drug administration testing
Adult offspring receive acute administration of antipsychotic drugs (clozapine, chlorpromazine) and psychomimetic drug (ketamine) to assess pharmacological responses
Note: Infected mice display striking responses compared to controls
View evidence from paper
“striking responses to the acute administration of antipsychotic (clozapine and chlorpromazine) and psychomimetic (ketamine) drugs”
Open-field testing
Adult offspring are tested in open-field apparatus to measure exploratory behavior
Note: Infected mice show deficient exploratory behavior compared to controls
View evidence from paper
“deficient in exploratory behavior in both open-field and novel-object tests”
Novel-object testing
Adult offspring are tested with novel objects to measure exploratory behavior
Note: Infected mice show deficient exploratory behavior compared to controls
View evidence from paper
“deficient in exploratory behavior in both open-field and novel-object tests”
Social interaction testing
Adult offspring are assessed for social interaction deficits
Note: Infected mice are deficient in social interaction
View evidence from paper
“they are deficient in social interaction”
Maternal poly(I:C) injection control
Pregnant mice receive maternal injection of synthetic double-stranded RNA polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid to test if immune response alone causes behavioral changes
Note: This control tests whether maternal immune response, independent of viral infection, causes PPI deficits in offspring
View evidence from paper
“maternal injection of the synthetic double-stranded RNA polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid causes a PPI deficit in the offspring in the absence of virus”