Brain Is “Rewired” During Pregnancy to Prepare for Motherhood

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute (UK) have shown that pregnancy hormones “rewire” the brain to prepare mice for motherhood. Their findings, published October 5, 2023 in Science, show that both estrogen and progesterone act on a small population of neurons in the brain to switch on parental behavior even before offspring arrive. These adaptations resulted in stronger and more selective responses to pups. The Science article is titled “Hormone-Mediated Neural Remodeling Orchestrates Parenting Onset During Pregnancy.”