第2457期:Pregnancy Changes the Brain(2)

The team began following Chrastil shortly before she became pregnant through in vitro fertilization. During the pregnancy and for two years after she gave birth, they continued doing MRI brain scans and blood tests to see how her brain changed. During this time, Chrastil’s sex hormones, like estrogen, increased and decreased. Some of the changes continued past pregnancy. 

在克拉斯蒂尔通过体外受精怀孕前不久，研究小组开始追踪她。在她怀孕期间和产后两年内，他们继续进行核磁共振脑部扫描和血液测试，以了解她的大脑如何变化。在此期间，克里斯提尔的性激素（如雌激素）增加或减少。一些变化在怀孕后持续存在。 

Emily Jacobs is with the University of California, Santa Barbara and was also a co-writer of the study. Jacobs said earlier studies had taken scans of the brain before and after pregnancy. But she said, none had shown changes in the brain as they were taking place. 

艾米丽·雅各布斯 (Emily Jacobs) 来自加州大学圣巴巴拉分校，也是该研究的合著者。雅各布斯说，早期的研究已经在怀孕前后对大脑进行了扫描。但她说，没有一个实验显示出大脑在发生变化时发生的变化。 

Unlike past studies, this one centered on many inner areas of the brain as well as the cerebral cortex, the outermost area, said Joseph Lonstein. He is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Michigan State University and was not involved in the research. 

约瑟夫·朗斯坦说，与过去的研究不同，这项研究集中于大脑的许多内部区域以及大脑皮层（最外层的区域）。他是密歇根州立大学神经科学和心理学教授，并未参与这项研究。 

Lonstein said it is “a good first step to understanding much more about whole-brain changes that could be possible in a woman across pregnancy and postpartum.” 

朗斯坦说，这是“更好地了解女性在怀孕和产后可能发生的全脑变化的良好第一步。” 

Research in animals has linked some brain changes with qualities that could help the animal care for an infant. The new study does not deal with what the changes mean in terms of human behavior. 

对动物的研究发现，一些大脑变化与有助于动物照顾婴儿的品质有关。这项新研究并未涉及这些变化对人类行为意味着什么。 

However, Lonstein said that it does describe changes in brain areas involved in social cognition, or thinking. This is how people act with others -- for example, how they understand their thoughts and feelings. 

然而，朗斯坦表示，它确实描述了涉及社会认知或思维的大脑区域的变化。这就是人们与他人相处的方式——例如，他们如何理解自己的想法和感受。 

The researchers have partners in Spain, and they are developing what they call the Maternal Brain Project. The Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative support the project. The researchers say they hope scientists can use findings from more than one woman to predict problems such as postpartum depression. 

研究人员在西班牙有合作伙伴，他们正在开发所谓的母脑项目。安·S·鲍尔斯 (Ann S. Bowers) 女性大脑健康倡议和陈·扎克伯格倡议 (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) 支持该项目。研究人员表示，他们希望科学家能够利用不止一名女性的研究结果来预测产后抑郁症等问题。 

“There is so much about the neurobiology of pregnancy that we don’t understand yet,…” Jacobs said. 

“关于怀孕的神经生物学，我们还不了解很多，……”雅各布斯说。 

She added that this is not because women and pregnancy are too complex. More is not known about pregnancy and the brain, she said, because “biomedical sciences have historically ignored women’s health.” 

她补充说，这并不是因为女性和怀孕太复杂。她说，关于怀孕和大脑的情况还不清楚，因为“生物医学历来忽视女性的健康。”