Time-sensitive changes in the maternal brain and their influence on mother-child attachment.
Susanne StickelElena LosseChristian EnzensbergerThomas FrodlNatalya ChechkoPublished in: Translational psychiatry (2024)
Pregnancy and the postpartum period are characterized by an increased neuroplasticity in the maternal brain. To explore the dynamics of postpartum changes in gray matter volume (GMV), magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 20 healthy postpartum women immediately after childbirth and at 3-week intervals for 12 postpartum weeks. The control group comprised 20 age-matched nulliparous women. The first 6 postpartum weeks (constituting the subacute postpartum period) are associated with decreasing progesterone levels and a massive restructuring in GMV, affecting the amygdala/hippocampus, the prefrontal/subgenual cortex, and the insula, which approach their sizes in nulliparous women only around weeks 3-6 postpartum. Based on the amygdala volume shortly after delivery, the maternal brain can be reliably distinguished from the nulliparous brain. Even 12 weeks after childbirth, the GMV in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and the cortical thickness of the subgenual and lateral prefrontal cortices do not reach the pre-pregnancy levels. During this period, a volume decrease is seen in the cerebellum, the thalamus, and the dorsal striatum. A less hostile behavior toward the child at 6-12 weeks postpartum is predicted by the GMV change in the amygdala, the temporal pole, the olfactory gyrus, the anterior cingulate, the thalamus and the cerebellum in the same period. In summary, the restructuring of the maternal brain follows time-dependent trajectories. The fact that the volume changes persist at 12 weeks postpartum indicates that the maternal brain does not fully revert to pre-pregnancy physiology. Postpartum neuroplasticity suggests that these changes may be particularly significant in the regions important for parenting.
Keyphrases
- resting state
- functional connectivity
- pregnancy outcomes
- prefrontal cortex
- white matter
- magnetic resonance imaging
- gestational age
- birth weight
- pregnant women
- polycystic ovary syndrome
- cerebral ischemia
- preterm birth
- mental health
- clinical trial
- computed tomography
- type diabetes
- multiple sclerosis
- spinal cord injury
- working memory
- spinal cord
- skeletal muscle
- randomized controlled trial
- depressive symptoms
- blood brain barrier
- transcranial magnetic stimulation
- adipose tissue
- brain injury
- weight loss