International Journal of Molecular Sciences Review Gestational Factors throughout Fetal Neurodevelopment: The Serotonin Link Sabrina I. Hanswijk 1 , Marcia Spoelder 1, Ling Shan 2 , Michel M. M. Verheij 1, 1 3 3 4, Otto G. Muilwijk , Weizhuo Li , Chunqing Liu , Sharon M. Kolk y and 1, , Judith R. Homberg * y 1 Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, 6525 EN Nijmegen, The Netherlands;
[email protected] (S.I.H.);
[email protected] (M.S.);
[email protected] (M.M.M.V.);
[email protected] (O.G.M.) 2 Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, an Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
[email protected] 3 College of Medical Laboratory, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China;
[email protected] (W.L.);
[email protected] (C.L.) 4 Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: + 31-24-3610906 These authors contributed equally to this work. y Received: 23 June 2020; Accepted: 11 August 2020; Published: 14 August 2020 Abstract: Serotonin (5-HT) is a critical player in brain development and neuropsychiatric disorders. Fetal 5-HT levels can be influenced by several gestational factors, such as maternal genotype, diet, stress, medication, and immune activation. In this review, addressing both human and animal studies, we discuss how these gestational factors affect placental and fetal brain 5-HT levels, leading to changes in brain structure and function and behavior.