Pregnancy causes the brain to reactivate in preparation for motherhood.
A new study finds that pregnancy causes permanent remodeling of neurons in the brain, which may help explain the dramatic changes in behavior and emotions that many women experience during and after pregnancy.
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have shown that pregnancy hormones ‘rewire’ the brain of mice to prepare them for motherhood. Their findings, published in journal science, show that both estrogen and progesterone act on a small population of neurons in the brain to trigger parental behavior even before the offspring arrive. These adaptations resulted in stronger and more selective responses to the pups.
according to a News release, it is well known that while virgin female rodents do not interact much with the pups, mothers spend most of their time caring for them. It was thought that the hormones released during childbirth were most important for this initiation of maternal behavior.
But earlier research also showed that rats that gave birth by cesarean section and virgin rats that were exposed to pregnancy hormones still displayed this maternal behavior, suggesting that Hormone changes may become more significant already during pregnancy.
In the current study, the researchers found that female rats actually showed increased parental behavior during late pregnancy and that exposure to pups was not necessary for this change in behavior. They found that a population of nerve cells (galanin-expressing neurons) in an area of the brain called the medial preoptic area (MPOA) in the hypothalamus, which is associated with parenting, was affected by estrogen and progesterone. .
Jonny said, “We know that during pregnancy, women’s bodies undergo changes to prepare for growing larger. One example of this is milk production, which begins long before giving birth. Our research shows It is true that such preparations are taking place in the brain also.” Kohl, group leader of the State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory at Crick.
“We think that these changes, often called ‘infant brain,’ cause a change in priority: virgin rats focus on mating, so they don’t need to respond to other female pups, while Mothers need to perform strong parental behaviors to ensure the survival of the pups. Interestingly, this change does not occur at birth; the brain is preparing for this major life change much earlier. “