NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — A new study led by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute finds that pregnancy hormones have a profound effect on the brain, rewiring it in preparation for motherhood. A study published in the journal Science found that estrogen and progesterone act on a specific group of neurons in the brain to induce parental behavior before the offspring are born. This adaptation leads to a stronger and more selective response to the birth of young.
Previously, it was believed that hormones released during childbirth were primarily responsible for the emergence of maternal behavior. However, earlier studies showed that rats that gave birth by Caesarean section, as well as virgin mice exposed to pregnancy hormones, still exhibited maternal behavior. This suggested that hormonal changes during pregnancy may play a more significant role.
In the present study, the researchers observed that female mice exhibited increased parental behavior during late pregnancy even without exposure to the pups. They found that estrogen reduced the baseline activity of galanin-expressing neurons in a brain region called the medial preoptic area (MPOA) in the hypothalamus, making them more excitable. Progesterone, on the contrary, rearranged the inputs of these neurons, connecting more synapses to them.
Interestingly, if these neurons were made insensitive to hormones, parental behavior during pregnancy completely disappeared. Even after giving birth, the mice showed no parental behavior, suggesting that there is a critical period during pregnancy when these hormones take effect. Some of these changes persisted for at least a month after birth, suggesting that pregnancy may lead to long-term changes in the female’s brain.
Jonny Kohl, group leader of the State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory at the Crick Center, commented on the findings, saying, “We know that women’s bodies change during pregnancy to prepare for parenting. One example is is milk production, which begins long before birth. Our research shows that similar preparation occurs in the brain. We believe that these changes, often called the “baby brain,” lead to a shift in priorities: virgin mice are focused on mating, so they don’t “We need to respond to the cubs of other females, while the mother needs to exhibit active parenting behavior to ensure the survival of the cubs. What’s surprising is that this switch does not occur at birth – the brain prepares for these major life changes much earlier.”
Rachida Ammari, a postdoctoral fellow at the Cricova Institute and first author of the study, added: “We have demonstrated that there is a window of plasticity in the brain to prepare for future behavioral challenges. These neurons receive a large amount of input from other areas of the brain, and now we We hope to understand where this new information is coming from.”
The results of this study shed light on the complex mechanisms by which pregnancy hormones affect the brain and promote the development of maternal behavior. Further research is needed to fully understand the origins of the new information received by these neurons and how it influences parental behavior.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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