Inflammation early in life is a vulnerability factor for emotional behavior at adolescence and for lipopolysaccharide-induced spatial memory and neurogenesis alteration at adulthood

Background The postnatal period is a critical time window during which inflammatory events have significant and enduring effects on the brain, and as a consequence, induce alterations of emotional behavior and/or cognition later in life. However, the long-term effect of neonatal inflammation on behavior during adolescence, a sensitive period for the development of neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders, has been little studied. In this study, we examined whether an early-life inflammatory challenge could alter emotional behaviors and spatial memory at adolescence and adulthood and whether stress axis activity, inflammatory response and neurogenesis were affected.