Moes, H. (Harmen) (2012) Emotional stimulation and brain activation in postpartum women: a longitudinal fMRI-study. thesis, Medicine.
Full text available on request.Abstract
After child delivery, maternal serum hormone levels of the ovarian steroids drop dramatically, while at the same time normal maternal receptiveness to the infant’s needs and maternal caring behaviours are activated. However, during the postpartum period new mothers are also more susceptible to developing mental health disturbances, such as postpartum blues and postpartum depression. The aim of this study was to explore emotional aspects of the postpartum brain related to hormonal changes, by use of a longitudinal functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) design. Brain activity of fourteen healthy postpartum women was measured twice (48 hours after delivery and again at 4-7 weeks postpartum) using a negative emotional face matching paradigm. Brain activation patterns of the postpartum women were also compared with fifteen regularly cycling, healthy controls. Furthermore, correlations between hormone levels and average activations in specific brain regions were tested. Significantly greater magnitude of blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals changes were found in brain areas of women 4-7 weeks postpartum compared with 48 hours after delivery. These areas included, among others, the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the right insula. No correlations between average BOLD-signal and ovarian steroid levels were found. This is the first longitudinal fMRI study on emotion related brain activity among healthy postpartum women. Given the involvement of the ACC and insula in emotional processing and empathy, our explorative findings possibly relate to the normal (and crucial) adaptations of the mother towards the newborn baby. As such, the results contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the frequently occurring affective disorders of the postpartum period.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Thesis) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Faculty supervisor: and Georgiadis, Dr. Janniko University of Groningen |
| Supervisor name: | External supervisor: and Sundström Poromaa, Prof. Inger M.D. and Department: Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala Universit |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Jun 2020 10:43 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2020 10:43 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/455 |
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