Postnatal Development of Neuroimmune Responses

Abstract

The early-life period represents a time of particular vulnerability to environmental and lifestyle stimuli that can shape our physiology long-term. The neuroimmune system is somewhat immature around the time of birth and a growing body of evidence has illustrated how immune stimuli experienced at this time can have a lasting influence on peripheral and central responses to further immune challenge. This chapter will detail current knowledge on the postnatal development of the neuroimmune system and how this is shaped by exposure to various stimuli. Further, field-relevant issues of experimental design, as well as novel techniques, technologies, and inter-disciplinary approaches that are expanding our capacity for understanding in this field will be discussed.