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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
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Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants

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Altered prefrontal cortical function during processing of fear-relevant stimuli in pregnancy

Annerine Roos1, Frances Robertson, Christine Lochner

  • 1MRC Unit on Anxiety & Stress Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, University of Stellenbosch, P.O. Box 19063, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa. aroos@sun.ac.za

Behavioural Brain Research
|April 5, 2011
PubMed
Summary

Pregnancy alters prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during fear processing, correlating with anxiety symptoms and hormone changes. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) safely measured this neural circuitry activation in pregnant individuals.

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