Structural and Functional Brain Remodeling during Pregnancy with Diffusion Tensor MRI and Resting-State Functional MRI.

Although pregnancy-induced hormonal changes have been shown to alter the brain at the neuronal level, the exact effects of pregnancy on brain at the tissue level remain unclear. In this study, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) were employed to investigate and d...

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Main Authors: Russell W Chan, Leon C Ho, Iris Y Zhou, Patrick P Gao, Kevin C Chan, Ed X Wu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4675543?pdf=render
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spelling doaj-426145c9b9ea429d8f1b6385d247ee572020-11-25T01:43:06ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-011012e014432810.1371/journal.pone.0144328Structural and Functional Brain Remodeling during Pregnancy with Diffusion Tensor MRI and Resting-State Functional MRI.Russell W ChanLeon C HoIris Y ZhouPatrick P GaoKevin C ChanEd X WuAlthough pregnancy-induced hormonal changes have been shown to alter the brain at the neuronal level, the exact effects of pregnancy on brain at the tissue level remain unclear. In this study, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) were employed to investigate and document the effects of pregnancy on the structure and function of the brain tissues. Fifteen Sprague-Dawley female rats were longitudinally studied at three days before mating (baseline) and seventeen days after mating (G17). G17 is equivalent to the early stage of the third trimester in humans. Seven age-matched nulliparous female rats served as non-pregnant controls and were scanned at the same time-points. For DTI, diffusivity was found to generally increase in the whole brain during pregnancy, indicating structural changes at microscopic levels that facilitated water molecular movement. Regionally, mean diffusivity increased more pronouncedly in the dorsal hippocampus while fractional anisotropy in the dorsal dentate gyrus increased significantly during pregnancy. For rsfMRI, bilateral functional connectivity in the hippocampus increased significantly during pregnancy. Moreover, fractional anisotropy increase in the dentate gyrus appeared to correlate with the bilateral functional connectivity increase in the hippocampus. These findings revealed tissue structural modifications in the whole brain during pregnancy, and that the hippocampus was structurally and functionally remodeled in a more marked manner.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4675543?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Russell W Chan
Leon C Ho
Iris Y Zhou
Patrick P Gao
Kevin C Chan
Ed X Wu
spellingShingle Russell W Chan
Leon C Ho
Iris Y Zhou
Patrick P Gao
Kevin C Chan
Ed X Wu
Structural and Functional Brain Remodeling during Pregnancy with Diffusion Tensor MRI and Resting-State Functional MRI.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Russell W Chan
Leon C Ho
Iris Y Zhou
Patrick P Gao
Kevin C Chan
Ed X Wu
author_sort Russell W Chan
title Structural and Functional Brain Remodeling during Pregnancy with Diffusion Tensor MRI and Resting-State Functional MRI.
title_short Structural and Functional Brain Remodeling during Pregnancy with Diffusion Tensor MRI and Resting-State Functional MRI.
title_full Structural and Functional Brain Remodeling during Pregnancy with Diffusion Tensor MRI and Resting-State Functional MRI.
title_fullStr Structural and Functional Brain Remodeling during Pregnancy with Diffusion Tensor MRI and Resting-State Functional MRI.
title_full_unstemmed Structural and Functional Brain Remodeling during Pregnancy with Diffusion Tensor MRI and Resting-State Functional MRI.
title_sort structural and functional brain remodeling during pregnancy with diffusion tensor mri and resting-state functional mri.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2015-01-01
description Although pregnancy-induced hormonal changes have been shown to alter the brain at the neuronal level, the exact effects of pregnancy on brain at the tissue level remain unclear. In this study, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) were employed to investigate and document the effects of pregnancy on the structure and function of the brain tissues. Fifteen Sprague-Dawley female rats were longitudinally studied at three days before mating (baseline) and seventeen days after mating (G17). G17 is equivalent to the early stage of the third trimester in humans. Seven age-matched nulliparous female rats served as non-pregnant controls and were scanned at the same time-points. For DTI, diffusivity was found to generally increase in the whole brain during pregnancy, indicating structural changes at microscopic levels that facilitated water molecular movement. Regionally, mean diffusivity increased more pronouncedly in the dorsal hippocampus while fractional anisotropy in the dorsal dentate gyrus increased significantly during pregnancy. For rsfMRI, bilateral functional connectivity in the hippocampus increased significantly during pregnancy. Moreover, fractional anisotropy increase in the dentate gyrus appeared to correlate with the bilateral functional connectivity increase in the hippocampus. These findings revealed tissue structural modifications in the whole brain during pregnancy, and that the hippocampus was structurally and functionally remodeled in a more marked manner.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4675543?pdf=render
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