The effects of a second pregnancy on women's brain structure and function

While we have previously shown that a first pregnancy changes women's brain structure and resting-state brain activity, it is currently unknown how a woman's brain is transformed when she undergoes another pregnancy. Therefore, we performed a prospective pre-conception cohort study involving 110 women, including women who became pregnant of their second (PRG2) or first child (PRG1) and nulliparous women. Multimodal MRI data were acquired and differential changes between PRG2 and PRG1 were observed in grey matter volume, white matter tracts and functional neural network organization. Together, these results show similar but less pronounced structural and functional changes in the default mode and frontoparietal network in PRG2, suggesting a primary adaptation of these networks in first-time mothers that is further fine-tuned across a second pregnancy. Furthermore, stronger alterations were found in PRG2 in the dorsal attention and somatomotor network including the corticospinal tract, pointing to an enhanced plasticity within these externally-oriented networks. Neurostructural changes in both groups related to mother-infant attachment and peripartum depression. These findings show that a second pregnancy uniquely changes a woman's brain, entailing both convergent and distinct neural transformations.