Descrizione del progetto
Adattamenti cerebrali e ormonali nella maternità
Durante la gravidanza, il cervello sperimenta importanti adattamenti che preparano le donne alle sfide della maternità. In particolare, studi precedenti hanno rivelato che la rete cerebrale cognitiva sociale delle donne in gravidanza subisce modifiche sistematiche, che persistono per almeno due anni dopo il parto, contribuendo al modo in cui le madri si relazionano con i loro bambini. Il progetto BEMOTHER, finanziato dall’UE, svilupperà un modello degli adattamenti che si verificano nelle donne durante la gravidanza e nel periodo post-partum. Il progetto intende stabilire quando e come il cervello viene riorganizzato durante la gravidanza, i cambiamenti neuropsicologici durante questo periodo e cercherà di identificare i mediatori ormonali eventualmente coinvolti in questa riorganizzazione cerebrale. L’obiettivo finale del progetto è quello di integrare i risultati neurali, neuropsicologici e metabolomici in un modello di sviluppo del comportamento materno.
Obiettivo
Pregnancy involves biological adaptations that are necessary for the onset, maintenance and regulation of maternal behavior. We were the first group to find (1, 2) that pregnancy is associated with consistent, pronounced and long-lasting reductions in cerebral gray matter (GM) volume in areas of the social-cognition network. The aim of BEMOTHER is to develop an integrative model of the adaptations for motherhood that occur during pregnancy and the postpartum period by: i) establishing when the brain of pregnant women begins to change and how it evolves; ii) characterizing the dynamics of cognitive performance, theory-of-mind, maternal-infant bonding and psychiatric measures; iii) assessing the effect of environmental and/or psychological factors in the maternal adaptations, iv) identifying the metabolomics biomarkers associated with maternal adaptations, and v) integrating the previous findings within the Research Domain Criteria framework (RDoC) (3). We will use a prospective longitudinal design at 5 time points (1 pre-pregnancy session, 2 intra-pregnancy sessions and 2 postpartum sessions) during which neuroimaging, psychological, behavioral and metabolomics data will be acquired in 3 groups of women: a group of nulliparous women who will be undergoing a full-term pregnancy, another group of nulliparous women whose same-sex partners will undergo a full-term pregnancy, and a group of control nulliparous women. We will provide the longitudinal RDoC-based model at the end of the study, but we will also deliver intermediate longitudinal evaluations after the postpartum session, as well as cross-sectional analyses after the first intra-pregnancy session and the postpartum session. BEMOTHER is timely and innovative. It adopts the translational RDoC framework in order to provide a pioneering, comprehensive and dynamic characterization of the adaptations for motherhood, addressing the interaction among different functional domains at different levels of analysis.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantIstituzione ospitante
08193 Cerdanyola Del Valles
Spagna