Luders Eileen, Kurth Florian, Gingnell Malin, Engman Jonas, Yong Eu-Leong, Poromaa Inger S, Gaser Christian
School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Cortex. 2020 May;126:334-342. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.12.029. Epub 2020 Jan 28.
Pregnancy results in obvious physiological changes to the female body, but data as to what happens to the maternal brain after giving birth are sparse as well as inconsistent. The overall goal of this study is to determine the nature of cerebral change in the postpartum period. For this purpose, we analyzed T1-weighted brain images of 14 healthy women (age range: 25-38 years) at two time points, specifically within 1-2 days of childbirth (immediate postpartum) and at 4-6 weeks after childbirth (late postpartum). When comparing voxel-wise gray matter between these two time points, there was no evidence of any significant decrease. Instead, we detected a pronounced gray matter increase involving both cortical and subcortical regions, such as the pre- and postcentral gyrus, the frontal and central operculum, the inferior frontal gyrus, the precuneus, and the middle occipital gyrus, as well as the thalamus and caudate. These structural changes occurring within only 4-6 weeks after delivery are reflective of a high degree of neuroplasticity and massive adaptations in the maternal brain. They may suggest a restoration of brain tissue following pregnancy and/or a substantial brain reorganization, possibly to accommodate a multi-faceted repertoire of complex behaviors associated with being a mother.
怀孕会导致女性身体发生明显的生理变化，但关于产后母体大脑发生了什么的数据既稀少又不一致。本研究的总体目标是确定产后大脑变化的性质。为此，我们分析了14名健康女性（年龄范围：25 - 38岁）在两个时间点的T1加权脑图像，具体为分娩后1 - 2天（产后即刻）和分娩后4 - 6周（产后晚期）。在比较这两个时间点逐体素的灰质时，没有证据表明有任何显著减少。相反，我们检测到灰质有明显增加，涉及皮质和皮质下区域，如中央前回和中央后回、额盖和中央盖、额下回、楔前叶和枕中回，以及丘脑和尾状核。这些仅在分娩后4 - 6周内发生的结构变化反映了母体大脑高度的神经可塑性和大量适应性变化。它们可能表明怀孕后脑组织的恢复和/或大脑的实质性重组，可能是为了适应与成为母亲相关的多方面复杂行为。
