Childbirth is a significant event in a woman’s life. Though this transition comes with its challenges, very little is known about how the hippocampus and amygdala change during this time. New research has found the first evidence linking postpartum depression with changes in their brains during pregnancy.
Postpartum depression affects about one in every seven women who give birth, however, there is not much info about what happens to the brains of pregnant women who experience it. According to studies, perinatal depression stems from a combination of hormonal changes, genetic predisposition, and environmental factors, yet up to 50% of cases remain undiagnosed due to the stigma surrounding the condition and patients’ reluctance to disclose symptoms. A new study published in the journal Science Advances, explored whether the hippocampus and amygdala change during the peripartum in relation to childbirth experience and perinatal depression symptoms.
The study found that women who developed postpartum depression symptoms had an increase in the volume of their amygdala, a part of the brain that controls fear, emotions, and memory. Women who perceived childbirth as stressful showed an increase in the volume of their hippocampus, a part of the brain that controls fear, emotions, and memory.
“It might be that those persons whose amygdala is more susceptible to change are also at higher risk of suffering postpartum depression. It can also be the other way around, that somehow these depression symptoms produce an increase in the amygdala volume,” Susana Carmona, the study’s senior author, a neuroscientist who leads the Neuromaternal Laboratory at the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón in Madrid said in a statement.
The researchers studied 88 pregnant women (first-time mothers with no prior depression history) and 30 non-pregnant women as a control group. The pregnant participants underwent brain scans in their third trimester and again about a month after giving birth. They found that after childbirth, 15 women had moderate symptoms, while 13 had more severe symptoms requiring medical attention. Also, stressful but uncomplicated childbirths were associated with increased depression risk.
These findings can pave the way for further research on how brain changes relate to mood, anxiety, and postpartum depression. Further research to identify the changes in the brain of pregnant women can also help improve early prediction, diagnosis, and treatment of postpartum depression.
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