410. Maternal Immune Activation Alters Mitochondrial Membrane Potential in Offspring in Vivo

Maternal immune activation (MIA) during pregnancy is a risk factor for schizophrenia. In rodents, MIA can be modeled using polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly I:C), a viral mimetic that produces an inflammatory response in the dam and fetuses. MIA also produces a variety of behavioral changes associated with schizophrenia, including social interaction deficits. Immune activation is known to disrupt mitochondrial function and impair ATP production. Therefore, in the current experiments, we tested the hypothesis that MIA alters mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), the ability to maintain the electrochemical gradient required for ATP production, and that restoring ΔΨm alleviates social deficits associated with MIA.