Conclusion
This OOC model of fetal neuroinflammation has determined that race/ethnicity differences do exist for perinatal brain injury. The fetal sex of neonates was not a determining factor of susceptibility to intraamniotic inflammation leading to neuroinflammation.
Results
In a pooled analysis, AF+LPS did not induce glial activation or inflammatory changes compared to AF alone. When stratified by sex, male AF+LPS promoted significant glial activation (high CD11b:p < 0.05; low Iba1:p < 0.01) compared to male AF without LPS; however, this was not associated with changes in pro-inflammatory cytokines. When stratified by race/ethnicity, AF+LPS induced glial activation in both groups, but a differential increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines was seen between WH and AA AF (WH-interleukin-1β: p < 0.05; AA-interleukin-8: p < 0.01).