Discovery of the Neural Pathway
A recent scientific study revealed that mothers' brains contain a dedicated neural pathway that makes them more sensitive to their infants' crying during sleep, which is linked to sleep disturbances and fragmentation after childbirth. The results showed that this pathway selectively and rapidly stimulates mothers to wake up in response to their children's calls, ignoring other sounds.
Biological and Brain Changes
The scientific website 'Medical Xpress' reported on Friday that results from a study conducted by researchers at China's Southern Medical University and published in the journal 'Nature Neuroscience' showed a link between motherhood and biological and structural changes in the brain. These results confirmed the complexity of the neural mechanisms that give priority to signals from offspring during sleep.
Role of Dopamine Receptors
Experiments conducted by recording brain and muscle activity showed that certain nerve cells in mothers' brains are more responsive to infants' calls. Researchers also identified a noticeable increase in dopamine receptor levels within this neural circuit, changes that contributed to making the brain more sensitive exclusively to children's calls while ignoring other surrounding sounds.
New Research Horizons
The study indicated that these findings open new research horizons for understanding documented postpartum disorders, as the scientific team intends to continue their research to link these neural pathways with physical and mental health issues in mothers. It noted that these results could help understand the relationship between brain mechanisms and other problems associated with motherhood, such as postpartum depression, emphasizing the need for further studies to evaluate the possibility of developing better care strategies.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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