Can Pregnancy Transform a Woman's Brain? A Nature Neuroscience Study Highlights
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A new study has revealed that the brain undergoes major changes during pregnancy, some fleeting and others more enduring.
Researchers, for the first time, have mapped the changes that unfold as a woman's brain reorganizes in response to pregnancy, based on scans carried out 26 times starting three weeks before conception, through nine months of pregnancy and then two years postpartum.
The study documented a widespread decrease in the volume of cortical gray matter as well as an increase in the microstructural integrity of white matter located deeper in the brain. Both changes coincided with rising levels of the hormones estradiol and progesterone.
The scientists said that since the study's completion they have observed the same pattern in several other pregnant women who have undergone brain scans in an ongoing research initiative called the Maternal Brain Project. They aim to expand the number into the hundreds.
"It's pretty shocking that in 2024 we have hardly any information about what happens in the brain during pregnancy. This paper opens up more questions than it answers, and we are just scratching the surface of these questions," Chrastil added.
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