Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have pioneered the first detailed map of the human brain during pregnancy, tracking both the decrease in gray matter and increase in white matter across the gestational period.

Emily Jacobs’ lab at UC Santa Barbara have shed light on this understudied area with the first-ever map of a human brain over the course of pregnancy.

The brain undergoes a "sweeping reorganisation" when a woman is expecting a baby, said The Guardian, and few areas are untouched by the process. Regular MRI scans from before conception until two years after childbirth revealed "widespread reorganisation" in the mother's brain, said the paper.

With implications for research around postpartum depression and other health issues, scientists have tracked the changes pregnancy brings to the female brain.

Scientists have taken the most detailed picture yet of the dynamic brain changes that unfold over the course of a human pregnancy and early infancy.

For the first time, scientists have observed the changes that occur in an expectant mother’s brain during pregnancy, revealing significant restructuring of numerous cortical areas. According to the researchers,