Oral probiotic administration during pregnancy prevents autism-related behaviors in offspring induced by maternal immune activation via anti-inflammation in mice.
Mouse study shows probiotics during pregnancy can block infection-triggered autism-like behaviors in offspring.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Scientists gave pregnant mice daily probiotics after triggering fake infection.
They wanted to see if the good bacteria would stop autism-like behaviors in the pups.
The moms drank probiotic water while pregnant, then researchers watched the babies grow.
What they found
The probiotic pups acted like typical mice. They played, squeaked, and explored normally.
Their brain inflammation stayed low, even though their moms had the infection trigger.
Without the probiotics, the same trigger produced repetitive actions and social withdrawal.
How this fits with other research
Tiede et al. (2019) and Han et al. (2025) show ABA helps kids who already have autism.
Wang et al. (2019) flips the timeline: it stops autism-like traits before birth in mice.
Peterson et al. (2019) fixes picky eating after diagnosis; Xiao tries to prevent the need.
Hirokawa et al. (2020) found moms with autism traits eat worse diets during pregnancy.
Together they hint that prenatal diet and post-birth therapy could both matter.
Why it matters
You can’t hand probiotics to human moms yet, but you can track this line of inquiry.
Watch for updates on maternal diet and inflammation in your clients’ families.
Share the mouse data with medical teams when parents ask about prenatal choices.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add a question about maternal infection history to your intake form.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Maternal immune activation (MIA) is associated with an increased risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in offspring. Animal experiments have found that interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-17a are key cytokines in the induction of ASD by MIA. Moreover, probiotics were verified to inhibit the production of proinflammatory cytokines. Therefore, we investigated whether the administration of oral probiotics during pregnancy might protect the offspring that have suffered MIA from developing ASD. Probiotics were orally administered to pregnant mice with/without the simultaneous administration of Poly(I:C). We found that oral probiotics prevented the ASD-like behaviors induced by MIA in offspring. Furthermore, oral probiotics prevented the MIA-induced increases in the IL-6 and IL-17a levels in both maternal serum and fetal brains, parvalbumin positive (PV+ ) neuron loss, and the decrease in the γ-aminobutyric acid levels in the prefrontal cortex of adult offspring. This work suggests that administering oral probiotics during pregnancy may help decrease the risk of ASD following MIA during pregnancy. Autism Res 2019, 12: 576-588. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-17a are key cytokines in the maternal immune activation (MIA)-induced autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Based on emerging evidence that probiotics can inhibit the production of proinflammatory cytokines, we found that oral probiotics prevented MIA-induced ASD-like behaviors in offspring. This work suggested that oral probiotics during pregnancy may be an effective means for decreasing the incidence of ASD in offspring.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2019 · doi:10.1002/aur.2079