Pregnancy leads to changes in the brain functional network: a connectome analysis

Abstract

Pregnancy leads to long-lasting changes in human brain structure; however, little is known regarding alterations in the topological organization of functional networks. In this study, we investigated the effect of pregnancy on human brain function networks. Resting-state fMRI data was collected from eighteen primiparous mothers and twenty-four nulliparous control women of similar age, education level and body mass index (BMI). The functional brain network and topological properties were calculated by using GRETNA toolbox. The demographic data differences between two groups were computed by the independent two sample t-test. We tested group differences in network metrics' area under curve (AUC) using non-parametric permutation test of 1,000 permutations and corrected for false discovery rate (FDR). Differences in regional networks between groups were evaluated using non-parametric permutation tests by network-based statistical analysis (NBS). Compared with the nulliparous control women, a hub node changed from left inferior temporal gyrus to right precentral gyrus in primiparous mothers, while primiparous mothers showed enhanced network global efficiency (p = 0.247), enhanced local efficiency (p = 0.410), larger clustering coefficient (p = 0.410), but shorter characteristic path length (p = 0.247), smaller normalized clustering coefficient (p = 0.111), and shorter normalized characteristic path length (p = 0.705). Although both groups of functional networks have small-world property (σ > 1), the σ values of primiparous mothers were decreased significantly. NBS evaluation showed the majority of altered connected sub-network in the primiparous mothers occurred in the bilateral frontal lobe gyrus (p < 0.05). Altered functional network metrics and an abnormal sub-network were found in primiparous mothers, suggested that pregnancy may lead to changes in the brain functional network.

Keywords: Functional network; Graph theory; Network-based statistical analysis; Pregnancy.