# Gestational Iron Deficiency disrupts neural patterning in the embryo

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2021 · $374,202

## Abstract

Abstract
This supplemental funding request builds on our EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER NATIONAL INSTITUTE
OF CHILD HEALTH & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT-sponsored research grant that is focused on the impact
of gestational iron deficiency (GID) on brain development. In the course of this work we have discovered
that GID alters neuronal cell populations in the embryonic brain which result in an altered balance of
excitatory and inhibitory signaling (E/I balance) later in life. This imbalance, which is associated with a
decrease in parvalbumin expressing interneurons (PV) is refractory to postnatal iron supplementation
suggesting that the changes that occur in the embryo are permanent and might render the brain
vulnerable to other insults later in life.
Interestingly, recent studies have found that Alzheimer disease is also associated with an impaired E/I
balance and mouse models of Alzheimer disease show a significant reduction in the number of PV-
expressing cells in the cortex compared with age-matched wild-type counterparts. These observations,
together with our recent findings that GID causes region specific dysregulation of metals in the brain
(which is also found in AD), raise the interesting hypothesis that gestational iron deficiency renders
offspring more susceptible to Alzheimer disease later in life.
We will test this novel hypothesis by establishing double-insult models where we expose animal models of
familial AD to GID and test whether GID alters the time of onset of pathology and the severity of AD
pathology. As a positive control, we will also combine AD mouse models with our newly generated mouse
model of early-life exposure to latent human herpes virus 6 infections (HHV6), a secondary insult that has
recently been linked to AD and has been suggested to be a pathology modulator.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10286844
- **Project number:** 3R01HD094563-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** MARGOT MAYER-PROSCHEL
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $374,202
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10286844

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10286844, Gestational Iron Deficiency disrupts neural patterning in the embryo (3R01HD094563-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10286844. Licensed CC0.

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