I’m a neuroscientist. I scanned my own brain 26 times to see it changed during pregnancy. – ryan
For Decades, Expectant Women Have Talked About Havinging “Mommy Brain” or “Pregnancy Brain,” Do you phenomenon where you’re more absent-minded than usual during pregnancy and the postpartum period. But Despite This Being Commonly Discussed, Scientists haven’t really studied it. Liz Chrastilan Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior at the UC Irvine Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory, Sangu to Change that. She had her time brain scanned 26 Times before, During and after Pregnancy to Document the Physical Changes in a Way That Had Never Been Done Before. Chrastil Shares with Writer Korin Miller the Inspiration Beinder Her Research, what it was like to be on the Other Side of Science and What She Hopes Will Next.
I’m a researcher who specializes in learning and memory, and I use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) regularly in my work. But the tabs tourned, and i dream up becoming the subject of a study of the human brain during pregnancy when i was trying to concept.
I was inspired by Laura pritschetA graduate student working at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Under My Colleague, Emily Jacobs. Pritschet had recently finished a study on Herself on how the menstrual cycle impacts the brain, and it made me think of the should The Same Duking My Pregnancy Journey in 2019.
I Went Through in Vitro Fertilization, SO I HAD A GREAT Idea of the Timing of My Pregnancy. All that was left to do was to track myself, and i did – over 26 mri scans.
I wasn’t nervous to undergo mris during my Pregnancy
I’m used to doing mris quite a bit, gioven my field. I know that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Says that mris are not linked with pregnancy risk and are the imaging techniques of choice bey’re needed during pregnancy.
MRI use a magnet, and there are no injections or radiation. There are no known risk, but we look at studies of People who done done during pregnancy for Medical reasons, and there were no safety concertns. I did want to be cautious about sound, so we put some foam in the machine as an an an added precision to muffle the sound the scanner makes.
After that, I WORKED WITH MY COLLABORATORS TO COME UP WITH THE PROCOOLS THAT WAUDED BE NEEDED FOR THE SCANS. IT ENDED UP BEING THAT I SIMPLY MADE APPOINTments to be in the mri scanner and to do Blood draws as well. I tried to time the Blood Draws to Happen Just before the scans so the date would be gathered as close together as a postible.
EACH SESSION TOOK ABOUT 40 minutes
The MRI sessions weren’t short. We did About Six or Seven Different Scans Each Time, Ultimately Taching About 40 Minutes Each. I did 26 scans overall, which means I spent more than 1,000 minutes in an mri scanner before, during and after my pregnancy.
During Each Scan, I HAD TO GET SET UP, BE POSITIONED WELL AND JUST TRY TO GET COMFORTABLE. Late on in my pregnancy, it was more important just to be comfortable.
I had to lay Stay and Stay awake for one of the scans, so i would just think what wand during that time. We made a point to do scan first, and it usually was over 10 minutes. After that, i would just rest or fall asleep during the other scans. I UTUALLY SLEPT – I WAS Pregnant, AFTER ALL.
We made some Surpring Findings
The Research on My Brain Was eventually published in the Journal NeuroscienceFeaturing Photos and Breakdowns of All of My Scans. We saw some noticeable changes to my brain over time.
One Big Standout was in the volume of gray matter in my brain. Gray Matter is a type of tissue that is shatly respondsable for processing memory, along with sensory perception, speech and decision-making. The Gray Matter Decreated About 4%, and Those Changes are Pretty Permanent. In tracking this, we could see a steady decreese and a slight bounce back in volume, but it really fully returned. I haven’t noticed a change in how of THINK, THOUGH.
We Also LOOKED AT WHITE MATTER, WHICH ASTS AS The “Superhighway” in the brain to form Big Connections. We think of this as the road information travels on. Here, we found an interesting change where the structural integrity of White Matter Improved and Peaked Around the Second Trimester before Returning to Baseline AFTER MY BABY WAS BORN. Again, i didn’t notice a difference in how i thought or felt durying this time.
We don’t really know what this means
The purposes of the Study was to look for Changes in the brain During Pregnancy. It ‘s 2025, and it”s shocking how Little we know about some of these Things. There are well no studies on brain changes during pregnancy, so it was up to us to do the research. But we don’t know what these finds mean.
We don’t know if these brain changes are good or swimming. There is some suggestion that they can Changes are adaptive, morphing the brain on purposes to help with maternal care. But it is all trade-off. The body May be Saying, “We’ve got other things to do here. Sorry, brain!” and Shuttling Vital Resources Away from the Brain to Other Areas. SO, WE REALLY DON’T KNOW. Now, we need to find out what all of this means.
General interest in this area of research has opened up, and there been a very big response in the research community to work. We’re Now Working With Other People and Plan to do any AOTERR SUPPLY WITH A Bigger Sample of 10 to 15 Pregnant Women. After that, we’ll scan norreds of Pregnant Women but with Fewer Time Points.
I’m Lucky that I had no Major Issues with postpartum depression, but estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Show that up to one in eight women will. We’re keping an EYE Toward postpartum depression with our research and who is vulnerable. The hope is that we can help to identify the risk of postpartum depression change during pregnancy along with where, and how we can help to prevent it.
Ultimately, the Big Thing is that we actually did the study and asked the Questions. This is a huge area of research that has been overlooked – and we’re active trying to change that.