VOA健康报道2024--Study: Pregnancy Changes the Brain

Study: Pregnancy¹ Changes the Brain

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

When a brain scientist at the University of California, Irvine got pregnant at the age of 38, she saw a rare chance. Neuroscientist Liz Chrastil wanted to see how her brain changed while she was pregnant.

Chrastil was among a group of researchers who presented their findings in a new study. It offers the first detailed² map of one woman's brain through the steps of pregnancy, also called gestation³.

Researchers say that motherhood affects nearly every part of the brain.

The researchers studied the effects of pregnancy in only one person: Chrastil. But their study has started a large international research project that aims to scan the brains of hundreds of women. The study could one day provide information about disorders⁴ like postpartum depression. Postpartum means after birth has taken place.

Chrastil said it has been a very long process. "We did 26 scans before, during and after pregnancy..." She said some of the findings were very noteworthy, or in her words "remarkable⁵." Chrastil is co-writer of the study that researchers published in Nature Neuroscience in September.

More than 80 percent of the parts of the brain studied had reductions in the amount of gray matter, where thinking takes place. This is an average of about four percent of the brain. This amount is nearly the same as the amount of reduction that happens during puberty. Puberty is the biological changes that cause a person to become a fertile adult.

However, the researchers said the reduction is probably not a bad thing. It might mean that networks of interconnected nerve cells called "neural⁶ circuits" are preparing for a new time in a woman's life.

The team began following Chrastil shortly before she became pregnant through in vitro fertilization. During the pregnancy and for two years after she gave birth, they continued doing MRI brain scans and blood tests to see how her brain changed. During this time, Chrastil's sex hormones⁸, like estrogen, increased and decreased. Some of the changes continued past pregnancy.

Emily Jacobs is with the University of California, Santa Barbara and was also a co-writer of the study. Jacobs said earlier studies had taken scans of the brain before and after pregnancy. But she said, none had shown changes in the brain as they were taking place.

Unlike past studies, this one centered on many inner areas of the brain as well as the cerebral⁹ cortex, the outermost¹⁰ area, said Joseph Lonstein. He is a professor of neuroscience and psychology¹¹ at Michigan State University and was not involved in the research.

Lonstein said it is "a good first step to understanding much more about whole-brain changes that could be possible in a woman across pregnancy and postpartum."

Research in animals has linked some brain changes with qualities that could help the animal care for an infant. The new study does not deal with what the changes mean in terms of human behavior.

However, Lonstein said that it does describe changes in brain areas involved in social cognition, or thinking. This is how people act with others -- for example, how they understand their thoughts and feelings.

The researchers have partners in Spain, and they are developing what they call the Maternal¹² Brain Project. The Ann S. Bowers¹³ Women's Brain Health Initiative and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative support the project. The researchers say they hope scientists can use findings from more than one woman to predict problems such as postpartum depression.

"There is so much about the neurobiology of pregnancy that we don't understand yet,..." Jacobs said.

She added that this is not because women and pregnancy are too complex. More is not known about pregnancy and the brain, she said, because "biomedical sciences have historically ignored women's health."

Words in This Story

neuroscientist -n. a person who studies the nervous system including the brain

gestation -n. the period of carry young in the uterus from conception to birth

scan -n. the process of using a device to make an image of the inside the body using sound, x-rays, or other radiation : also a verb

in vitro fertilization -adj. fertilization of an egg in a laboratory dish or test tube specifically : fertilization by mixing sperm¹⁴ with eggs surgically¹⁵ removed from an ovary followed by uterine implantation of one or more of the resulting fertilized¹⁶ eggs -abbreviation IVF

MRI -n. magnetic resonance¹⁷ imaging, also : the procedure in which magnetic resonance imaging is used

hormone⁷ -n. a product of living cells that circulates in body fluids (as blood) or sap and produces a specific and often stimulating¹⁸ effect on cells usually at a distance from the place where it is made

maternal -adj. of, relating to, belonging to, or characteristic of a mother

initiative -n. a plan or program intended to solve a problem

cerebral cortex -n. the layer of gray matter that covers the outside of the cerebral hemispheres in the brain and is associated with higher cognitive¹⁹ functions, such as language, learning, perception, and planning.

psychology -n. the science of mind and behavior

1 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

2 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

3 gestation   

n.怀孕；酝酿

参考例句：

• The gestation period can be anything between 95 and 150 days.妊娠期从95天至150天不等。
• This film was two years in gestation.这部电影酝酿了两年。

4 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

6 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

7 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

8 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

9 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

10 outermost   

adj.最外面的，远离中心的

参考例句：

• He fired and hit the outermost ring of the target.他开枪射中了靶子的最外一环。
• The outermost electron is shielded from the nucleus.原子核对最外层电子的作用受到屏蔽。

11 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

12 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

13 bowers   

n.（女子的）卧室( bower的名词复数 )；船首锚；阴凉处；鞠躬的人

参考例句：

• If Mr Bowers is right, low government-bond yields could lose their appeal and equities could rebound. 如果鲍尔斯先生的预计是对的，那么低收益的国债将会失去吸引力同时股价将会反弹。 来自互联网

14 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

15 surgically   

adv. 外科手术上, 外科手术一般地

参考例句：

• Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
• To bypass this impediment an almost mature egg cell is removed surgically. 为了克服这一障碍，通过手术，取出一个差不多成熟的卵细胞。

16 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

17 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

18 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

19 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。