Pregnancy may cause significant changes to the brain, with more than 80% of gray matter shrinking during this time. A recent study tracked these changes by scanning the brain of a pregnant neuroscientist throughout her pregnancy and for two years postpartum.
The study found that the average decrease in gray-matter volume within affected brain areas was around 4%, similar to the reduction seen during puberty. This shrinkage may be due to the fine-tuning of neural circuits, resulting in permanent changes to the brain.
However, other changes observed during pregnancy were temporary. White matter, which is responsible for transmitting information between neurons, grew more robust during the first and second trimesters but returned to its pre-pregnancy state by birth.
The study’s participant, Liz Chrastil, an associate professor of neurobiology and behavior at University of California, Irvine, revealed that she did not experience “mommy brain” or pregnancy complications. Her data provides a valuable baseline for comparing with complicated pregnancies that may affect the brain differently.
Chrastil’s findings align with those of larger studies on first-time mothers, suggesting that pregnancy-induced brain changes may be a widespread phenomenon. The study’s authors are now launching the Maternal Brain Project to collect similar brain scans from more pregnant individuals and gain a deeper understanding of these changes.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/health/neuroscience/striking-brain-scans-reveal-how-one-mom-s-brain-changed-during-pregnancy