Fig. 1: Precision imaging reveals neuroanatomical changes throughout gestation.
From: Neuroanatomical changes observed over the course of a human pregnancy
a, Standard medical demarcations for pregnancy stages (that is, trimesters) by gestation week (the image is created with BioRender.com). b, Steroid hormones increased significantly throughout pregnancy and dropped precipitously postpartum, as is characteristic of the prenatal and postnatal periods. c, A healthy 38-year-old primiparous woman underwent 26 scanning sessions from 3 weeks preconception through 2 years postpartum. Scans were distributed throughout preconception (four scans), first trimester (four scans), second trimester (six scans), third trimester (five scans) and postpartum (seven scans); tick marks indicate when major measures were collected and colors denote pregnancy stage. The participant underwent IVF to achieve pregnancy, allowing for precise mapping of ovulation, conception and gestation week. d, Summary (that is, total) of brain measures throughout the experiment. Generalized additive models revealed GMV, CT and total brain volume decreased throughout pregnancy (see Methods for validation with cubic regression), with a slight recovery postpartum. Global QA, lateral ventricle and CSF volumes displayed nonlinear increases across gestation, with a notable rise in the second and third trimesters before dropping sharply postpartum. Shaded regions represent 95% confidence bands; solid lines indicate model fit; dashed line indicates parturition.
