Neuroscientist Liz Chrastil had the unique opportunity to observe how her brain changed during pregnancy. She shared her findings in a new study, which provides the first detailed map of a woman’s brain throughout gestation.
The research revealed that the transition to motherhood affects almost every part of the brain.
Although the study focused on only one person, it marks the beginning of a large international research project aiming to scan the brains of hundreds of women. This research could potentially provide insights into disorders like postpartum depression.
“It’s been a very long journey,” said Chrastil, co-author of the paper published in Nature Neuroscience. “We conducted 26 scans before, during, and after pregnancy and found some remarkable things.”
More than 80% of the brain regions studied showed reductions in the volume of gray matter, where thinking occurs. On average, this amounted to about 4% of the brain, nearly identical to the reduction during puberty. While a decrease in gray matter may sound concerning, researchers believe it reflects the fine-tuning of neural circuits in preparation for a new phase of life.
The research team began following Chrastil, who was 38 years old and working at the University of California, Irvine, shortly before she became pregnant through in vitro fertilization. They continued to conduct MRI brain scans and draw blood during her pregnancy and for two years after she gave birth to observe how her brain changed as sex hormones fluctuated. Some of the changes persisted beyond pregnancy.
“Previous studies had taken snapshots of the brain before and after pregnancy, but we’ve never witnessed the brain in the midst of this metamorphosis,” said co-author Emily Jacobs of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Unlike past studies, this research focused on many inner regions of the brain as well as the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer, according to Joseph Lonstein, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Michigan State University, who was not involved in the research. He mentioned it’s “a good first step to understanding much more about whole-brain changes that could be possible in a woman across pregnancy and postpartum.”
While the study did not address the implications of these changes on human behavior, animal research has linked some brain changes with qualities that could be beneficial when caring for an infant. The researchers have partners in Spain and are progressing with the larger Maternal Brain Project, supported by the Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Ultimately, the goal is to use data from a large number of women to predict postpartum depression before it occurs.
“There is so much about the neurobiology of pregnancy that we don’t understand yet, and it’s not because women are too complicated. It’s not because pregnancy is some Gordian knot,” Jacobs said. “It’s a byproduct of the fact that biomedical sciences have historically ignored women’s health.”Neuroscientist Liz Chrastil had the unique opportunity to observe how her brain changed during pregnancy and shared her findings in a new study, which provides the first detailed map of a woman’s brain throughout gestation.
The research revealed that the transition to motherhood affects almost every part of the brain.
Although the study focused on only one person, it marks the beginning of a large international research project aiming to scan the brains of hundreds of women. This research could potentially provide insights into disorders like postpartum depression.
“It’s been a very long journey,” said Chrastil, co-author of the paper published in Nature Neuroscience. “We conducted 26 scans before, during, and after pregnancy and found some remarkable things.”
More than 80% of the brain regions studied showed reductions in the volume of gray matter, where thinking occurs. On average, this amounted to about 4% of the brain, nearly identical to the reduction during puberty. While a decrease in gray matter may sound concerning, researchers believe it reflects the fine-tuning of neural circuits in preparation for a new phase of life.
The research team began following Chrastil, who was 38 years old and working at the University of California, Irvine, shortly before she became pregnant through in vitro fertilization. They continued to conduct MRI brain scans and draw blood during her pregnancy and for two years after she gave birth to observe how her brain changed as sex hormones fluctuated. Some of the changes persisted beyond pregnancy.
“Previous studies had taken snapshots of the brain before and after pregnancy, but we’ve never witnessed the brain amid this metamorphosis,” said co-author Emily Jacobs of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Unlike past studies, this research focused on many inner regions of the brain and the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer, according to Joseph Lonstein, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Michigan State University, who was not involved in the research. He mentioned it’s “a good first step to understanding much more about whole-brain changes that could be possible in a woman across pregnancy and postpartum.”
While the study did not address the implications of these changes on human behavior, animal research has linked some brain changes with qualities that could be beneficial when caring for an infant. The researchers have partners in Spain and are progressing with the more significant Maternal Brain Project, supported by the Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Ultimately, the goal is to use data from a large number of women to predict postpartum depression before it occurs.
“There is so much about the neurobiology of pregnancy that we don’t understand yet, and it’s not because women are too complicated. It’s not because pregnancy is some Gordian knot,” Jacobs said. “It’s a byproduct of the fact that biomedical sciences have historically ignored women’s health.”
