Immune cells play a critical role in brain development, but little research has been done on how these cells impact cranium development. Exciting new research from Dr. Jessica Rosin’s laboratory is showing just how important immune cells are in this process.

Dr. Rosin and her team work at the cellular level to explore the unique intersection between neuroscience and oral health. They want to understand how immune cells communicate with other cells during pregnancy to result in normal fetal development of the face and brain. Their recent work shows that when specific immune cells are removed from a fetal environment, neural crest cells are disrupted. These cells are critical in craniofacial development, so any disruption to the neural crest cells can affect how the fetus’ skull, face and mouth grow. The team also found that the sex of the fetus can influence how development is affected when immune cells are absent.

This work has implications beyond the lab. While it’s known that having good oral health is important for pregnant women, there is little research on how infections such as gingivitis and periodontal disease impact craniofacial and brain development in a growing baby. Researchers can improve prenatal care by better understanding the role immune cells play in fetal development and how these cells are implicated in
oral disease.

“Women are often told to take care of their oral health when they’re pregnant, but it’s not very clear exactly how their oral health is affecting the fetus,” says Dr. Rosin. “We want to highlight the importance of oral healthcare for pregnant women so we can equip them with the best possible knowledge, and the only way to do this is by understanding biology at the cellular level. Whether you’re looking at the mouth, the brain, the heart, or any other part of the body, if we don’t understand how it developed, there’s no way to diagnose, let alone cure or prevent, any type of related disease.”