Completely rewires mothers' brains, a pregnancy effect, study

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INA - SOURCES

Neuroscientists scanned the brain of a pregnant woman and captured a 'widespread reorganization' of her brain before, during and after pregnancy.

Based on brain scans of one healthy 38-year-old woman's brain over two years, scientists have created the first comprehensive map of how the brain changes during pregnancy.

The data, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, found a dynamic reorganization in the mother's brain — the changes unfolded like clockwork throughout the pregnancy.

Almost all parts of the brain showed changes in function and anatomy, including in regions involved in social and emotional processing, some of which lasted for two years after the baby was born.

While the research focused on one woman's pregnancy, the work joins a small body of research showing that the process of being a mother, called matrescence, is another stage of development.

Scientists are beginning to discover how hormonal changes during pregnancy and motherhood overhaul the brain's anatomy and function, as they also do during adolescence and menopause.

"It seems like the human brain goes through this choreographed change across gestation, and we were finally able to observe the change in real-time," said lead author Emily Jacobs of the University of California, Santa Barbara, US.