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Advancing the neuroscience of human pregnancy

The study of the female brain during pregnancy and motherhood is gaining traction, and holds the potential to address the unmet needs of millions of women worldwide. Here we highlight the most pressing gaps in this field. Filling these knowledge gaps will require two paths forward: focused longitudinal studies that deeply characterize individuals, and collaborative initiatives that build large-scale international databases.

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Fig. 1: Recommended pathways to advance the field of neuroscience of human pregnancy.

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Acknowledgements

M.M.-G and E.G.J are supported by The Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative. A.-M.G.d.L. is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (PZ00P3_193658). S.C. is supported by a Miguel Servet Type II research contract (CPII21/00016), and co-funded by the European Social Fund ‘Investing in your future’.

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Correspondence to Magdalena Martínez-García.

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Martínez-García, M., Jacobs, E.G., de Lange, AM.G. et al. Advancing the neuroscience of human pregnancy. Nat Neurosci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01629-z

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