Pregnancy causes "long-lasting"
physical changes to a woman's brain, with
significant, but seemingly beneficial, grey
matter loss in parts of the crucial organ, a
study said on Monday.
Some alterations lasted at least two years,
they reported, but did not appear to erode
memory or other mental processes.
The changes "concern brain areas
associated with functions necessary to
manage the challenges of motherhood,"
study co-author Erika Barba-Muller of the
Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)
said in a statement.
The radical hormone surges and physical
changes of pregnancy have long been known
and studied, but its effects on the brain
have been little understood.
The new study, published in Nature
Neuroscience, claims to provide the first
evidence "that pregnancy confers long-
lasting changes in a woman's brain."
It compared pre- and post-pregnancy brain
scans of 25 first-time mothers. They
researchers also looked at the brains of
first-time fathers, as well as men and
women with no children.
It found "pronounced and long-lasting GM
(grey matter) volume reductions in a
woman's brain" in pregnancy, in regions
involved in social processes.
In later tests, these same regions lit up
most on scans measuring the women's
responses to their babies.
The brain changes were likely an adaptation
for motherhood -- boosting the ability to
recognise the needs and emotional state of
a baby and decode potential threats to its
health and safety, said the researchers.
Grey matter is found in the brain's wrinkly
outer layer called the cerebral cortex, which
houses the processes of learning and
memory, motor function, social skills,
language and problem solving.
The good news: the researchers "did not
observe any changes in memory or other
cognitive functions during the pregnancies
and therefore believe that the loss of grey
matter does not imply any cognitive
defects," said a UAB statement.
The study tested the women up to two
years after pregnancy, so it is not clear how
long the changes last.
The study pointed to a process called
"synaptic pruning" which happens to humans
in adolescence to remove rarely-used
synapses -- connections between brain cells.
This is done to make way, after childhood,
for more efficient and specialised synapses
and boost the network's overall efficiency.
A similar process may be at play in
pregnancy, the researchers speculated.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV
staff and is auto-generated from a
syndicated feed.) Pregnancy causes "long-lasting"
physical changes to a woman's brain, with
significant, but seemingly beneficial, grey
matter loss in parts of the crucial organ, a
study said on Monday.
Some alterations lasted at least two years,
they reported, but did not appear to erode
memory or other mental processes.
The changes "concern brain areas
associated with functions necessary to
manage the challenges of motherhood,"
study co-author Erika Barba-Muller of the
Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)
said in a statement.
The radical hormone surges and physical
changes of pregnancy have long been known
and studied, but its effects on the brain
have been little understood.
The new study, published in Nature
Neuroscience, claims to provide the first
evidence "that pregnancy confers long-
lasting changes in a woman's brain."
It compared pre- and post-pregnancy brain
scans of 25 first-time mothers. They
researchers also looked at the brains of
first-time fathers, as well as men and
women with no children.
It found "pronounced and long-lasting GM
(grey matter) volume reductions in a
woman's brain" in pregnancy, in regions
involved in social processes.
In later tests, these same regions lit up
most on scans measuring the women's
responses to their babies.
The brain changes were likely an adaptation
for motherhood -- boosting the ability to
recognise the needs and emotional state of
a baby and decode potential threats to its
health and safety, said the researchers.
Grey matter is found in the brain's wrinkly
outer layer called the cerebral cortex, which
houses the processes of learning and
memory, motor function, social skills,
language and problem solving.
The good news: the researchers "did not
observe any changes in memory or other
cognitive functions during the pregnancies
and therefore believe that the loss of grey
matter does not imply any cognitive
defects," said a UAB statement.
The study tested the women up to two
years after pregnancy, so it is not clear how
long the changes last.
The study pointed to a process called
"synaptic pruning" which happens to humans
in adolescence to remove rarely-used
synapses -- connections between brain cells.
This is done to make way, after childhood,
for more efficient and specialised synapses
and boost the network's overall efficiency.
A similar process may be at play in
pregnancy, the researchers speculated.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV
staff and is auto-generated from a
syndicated feed.) Pregnancy causes "long-lasting"
physical changes to a woman's brain, with
significant, but seemingly beneficial, grey
matter loss in parts of the crucial organ, a
study said on Monday.
Some alterations lasted at least two years,
they reported, but did not appear to erode
memory or other mental processes.
The changes "concern brain areas
associated with functions necessary to
manage the challenges of motherhood,"
study co-author Erika Barba-Muller of the
Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)
said in a statement.
The radical hormone surges and physical
changes of pregnancy have long been known
and studied, but its effects on the brain
have been little understood.
The new study, published in Nature
Neuroscience, claims to provide the first
evidence "that pregnancy confers long-
lasting changes in a woman's brain."
It compared pre- and post-pregnancy brain
scans of 25 first-time mothers. They
researchers also looked at the brains of
first-time fathers, as well as men and
women with no children.
It found "pronounced and long-lasting GM
(grey matter) volume reductions in a
woman's brain" in pregnancy, in regions
involved in social processes.
In later tests, these same regions lit up
most on scans measuring the women's
responses to their babies.
The brain changes were likely an adaptation
for motherhood -- boosting the ability to
recognise the needs and emotional state of
a baby and decode potential threats to its
health and safety, said the researchers.
Grey matter is found in the brain's wrinkly
outer layer called the cerebral cortex, which
houses the processes of learning and
memory, motor function, social skills,
language and problem solving.
The good news: the researchers "did not
observe any changes in memory or other
cognitive functions during the pregnancies
and therefore believe that the loss of grey
matter does not imply any cognitive
defects," said a UAB statement.
The study tested the women up to two
years after pregnancy, so it is not clear how
long the changes last.
The study pointed to a process called
"synaptic pruning" which happens to humans
in adolescence to remove rarely-used
synapses -- connections between brain cells.
This is done to make way, after childhood,
for more efficient and specialised synapses
and boost the network's overall efficiency.
A similar process may be at play in
pregnancy, the researchers speculated.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV
staff and is auto-generated from a
syndicated feed.)