Becoming a mother entails anatomical changes in the ventral striatum of the human brain that facilitate its responsiveness to offspring cues

PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY

卷:112

Article

Hoekzema, Elseline^1,2  Tamnes, Christian K.^3,4,5,6  Berns, Puck^1,2  Barba-Muller, Erika⁷  Pozzobon, Cristina⁸  Picado, Marisol⁷  Lucco, Florencio⁸  Martinez-Garcia, Magdalena^9,10  Desco, Manuel^9,10,11,12  Ballesteros, Agustin⁸  Crone, Eveline A.^1,2  Vilarroya, Oscar^7,13  Carmona, Susanna^9,10,11 

[1] Leiden Univ, Brain & Dev Res Ctr, Leiden, Netherlands

[2] Leiden Univ, Leiden Inst Brain & Cognit, Leiden, Netherlands

[3] Univ Oslo, Dept Psychol, PROMENTA Res Ctr, Oslo, Norway

[4] Univ Oslo, Oslo Univ Hosp, NORMENT, Div Mental Hlth & Addict, Oslo, Norway

[5] Univ Oslo, Inst Clin Med, Oslo, Norway

[6] Diakonhjemmet Hosp, Dept Psychiat, Oslo, Norway

[7] Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Dept Psiquiatria & Med Legal, Unitat Recerca Neurociencia Cognit, Barcelona, Spain

[8] Inst Valenciano Infertilidad, Barcelona, Spain

[9] Inst Invest Sanitaria Gregorio Maranon, Madrid, Spain

[10] Ctr Invest Biomid Red Salud Mental CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain

[11] Univ Carlos III Madrid, Dept Bioingn & Ingne Aeroespacial, Madrid, Spain

[12] Ctr Nacl Invest Cardiovasc Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

[13] Fundacio IMIM, Barcelona, Spain

关键词: Pregnancy;    Ventral striatum;    Nucleus accumbens;    Reward circuit;    Maternal brain;    MRI;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104507

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

In mothers, offspring cues are associated with a powerful reinforcing value that motivates maternal care. Animal studies show that this is mediated by dopamine release into the nucleus accumbens, a core component of the brain's reward system located in the ventral striatum (VStr). The VStr is also known to respond to infant signals in human mothers. However, it is unknown whether pregnancy modifies the anatomy or functionality of this structure, and whether such modifications underlie its strong reactivity to offspring cues. Therefore, we analyzed structural and functional neuroimaging data from a unique pre-conception prospective cohort study involving first-time mothers investigated before and after their pregnancy as well as nulliparous control women scanned at similar time intervals. First, we delineated the anatomy of the VStr in each subject's neuroanatomical space and examined whether there are volumetric changes in this structure across sessions. Then, we tested if these changes could predict the mothers' brain responses to visual stimuli of their infants. We found decreases in the right VStr and a trend for left VStr reductions in the women who were pregnant between sessions compared to the women who were not. Furthermore, VStr volume reductions across pregnancy were associated with infant-related VStr responses in the postpartum period, with stronger volume decreases predicting stronger functional activation to offspring cues. These findings provide the first indications that the transition to motherhood renders anatomical adaptations in the VStr that promote the strong responsiveness of a mother's reward circuit to cues of her infant.

【 授权许可】

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