# Gestational stress effects on neuroimmune function during the peripartum period

> **NIH NIH R21** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $190,700

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Postpartum depression (PPD) affects at least 15% of new mothers, making it one of the most common mental
health conditions in women. PPD is not only detrimental for the mother's well-being, it is also known to have a
damaging effect on mother-infant interactions which can negatively impact offspring development. Despite its
prevalence and adverse consequences for women and their children, the mechanisms that contribute to the
development of PPD remain unclear. Our long-term goal is to identify novel mediators that may be
responsible for mood disturbance and impaired maternal care in PPD in order to better understand the
pathophysiology of the disorder and ultimately develop new treatment strategies. To achieve that goal we
propose to use an animal model that incorporates gestational stress, a major risk factor for PPD that we have
shown: 1) recapitulates the critical behavioral symptoms found in depressed human mothers (i.e. behavioral
despair, anhedonia, maternal care deficits) and 2) produces neural abnormalities (i.e. dendritic spine loss) in
key mood regulating brain regions that have been implicated in PPD, including the medial prefrontal cortex
and nucleus accumbens. Using this model, we will investigate the neuroimmune underpinnings of PPD by
focusing on microglia, the primary innate immune cells of the brain that are known to be important regulators
of mood and neuroplasticity. The central hypothesis of this exploratory proposal is that gestational stress
perturbs the peripartum neuroimmune environment and this has an etiological role in postpartum depressive-
like symptomology and the accompanying reduction in dendritic spines. We will employ behavioral,
neuroanatomical, immunological, biochemical, and pharmacological approaches to test our central hypothesis
in two Specific Aims. Aim 1 will delineate how gestational stress induces dysregulation of microglia in the
peripartum brain. Aim 2 will determine the extent to which immunomodulatory interventions can prevent or
mitigate the detrimental effects of gestational stress on postpartum mood, maternal care, and neuroplasticity.
Overall, these studies will push research related to women's mental health during the postpartum period
forward by potentially uncovering a previously unknown role of the neuroimmune system in maternal
depression.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9858447
- **Project number:** 5R21MH117482-02
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** BENEDETTA J LEUNER
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $190,700
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9858447

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9858447, Gestational stress effects on neuroimmune function during the peripartum period (5R21MH117482-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9858447. Licensed CC0.

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