ReviewNature reviews. Neuroscience2023
The transition to motherhood: linking hormones, brain and behaviour.
Review in Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 51 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 87 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neural correlates of peripartum depression: a systematic review, meta-analysis and comparison to major depressive disorder.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence of negative birth experience: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review of associations between hormone levels in hair and peripartum depression.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of Exercise Dose-Response on Maternal Mental Health and Perinatal Depression Prevention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of public health · 2025Pooled it
- Neural circuits for mammalian parental behaviour.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2026Review
- Examining dynamic changes in prefrontal connectivity and internalizing symptoms during the first and third trimesters of pregnancy.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Triple Network Neuroplasticity and Perinatal Mood Symptoms from Preconception to Postpartum: A Pilot Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Effect of Parity and β-Amyloid on Cognition and Hippocampal Volume in Postmenopausal Women.Neurology · 2026Article
- Simultaneous Recordings of Neuronal Activities, Pup Calls, and Maternal Behaviors in Lactating Mice.eNeuro · 2026Article
- Oxytocin attenuates fear learning via enhancing somatostatin interneuron-mediated local GABAergic inhibition in the prelimbic cortex.Science advances · 2026Article
- Article
- Maternal brain alterations based on neurotransmitter and hormone receptor distributions over six months postpartum.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Postpartum Psychosis and Bipolar Disorder: Review of Neurobiology and Expert Consensus Statement on Classification.Biological psychiatry · 2026Review
- The protective effect of pregnancy on risk for suicide attempt in a Swedish national cohort.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Traces of Parenthood but Not Pregnancy Loss in UK Biobank Structural Brain MRI Data.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- Measuring emotion dysregulation in pregnancy using smartphone activity: a prospective research study in the United States.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Intrinsic resting-state connectivity and personal meaning across the transition to fatherhood.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Psychedelic therapy and postpartum depression: priorities and prospects.Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Infant Caregiving as a Resilience Factor for Postpartum Substance Misuse: A Scoping Review.Adversity and resilience science · 2026Review
- Positive Mental Health, Anxiety and Prenatal Bonding: A Contextual Approach.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We are witnessing a stark increase in scientific interest in the neurobiological processes associated with pregnancy and maternity. Convergent evidence suggests that around the time of labour, first-time mothers experience a specific pattern of neuroanatomical changes that are associated with maternal behaviour. Here we provide an overview of the human neurobiological adaptations of motherhood, focusing on the interplay between pregnancy-related steroid and peptide hormones, and neuroplasticity in the brain. We discuss which brain plasticity mechanisms might underlie the structural changes detected by MRI, which hormonal systems are likely to contribute to such neuroanatomical changes and how these brain mechanisms may be linked to maternal behaviour. This Review offers an overarching framework that can serve as a roadmap for future investigations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.