Pregnancy changes the brain of mothers

Oscar Vilarroya Oliver

  • PROJECT LEADER

    Oscar Vilarroya Oliver

  • HOST ORGANIZATION, COUNTRY

    Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain

  • DESCRIPTION

    During pregnancy, the brain is modified so as to prepare women for the challenges of motherhood. The researchers have revealed that there is a network of brain areas that experience important changes, which persist at least two years, and that contribute to how a mother relates with her baby.

    There are, nevertheless, many questions still to be addressed. The project plans to establish the when and how the brain is reorganized during pregnancy, as well as to identify the hormonal mediators that induce and conduct the brain reorganization.

    The ultimate aim is to associate the hormonal and neural findings with the maternal behavior, as well as with post-partum mental disorders.

  • CONSORTIUM
    (PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, ORGANIZATION, COUNTRY)

    • Oscar Juan Pozo Mendoza, Fundació Institut Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), Spain

    • Susana Carmona Cañabate, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Spain

    • Reinald Pamplona Gras, Universitat de Lleida-IRBLleida, Spain

    • Anna Veiga, Reproductive Medicine Service at Dexeus Women Health, Spain

  • PROJECT TITLE

    Dynamics of the neural, metabolomic and neuropsychological signatures underlying the adaptations for motherhood during pregnancy

  • BUDGET

    €972,414