Mommy Brain Revisited

Welcome to another episode of Mommy Brain Revisited! In this episode, I’m joined by Prof. Joseph Lonstein (Michigan State University) to talk about our recent research on how probiotic treatment shapes the maternal gut–microbiota–brain axis.This work—published in the Journal of Neuroendocrinology as part of the Parental Brain Special Issue—explores how reproductive experience influences the effects of Lactocaseibacillus rhamnosus HN001 on gut microbiota and hippocampal plasticity in female rats:📖 Citation: Pawluski JL, Kacimi K, Zhang C, Guillot L, Guidice AL, Charlier TD, Lonstein JS. Reproductive experience influences the effects of Lactocaseibacillus rhamnosus HN001 on gut microbiota and hippocampal plasticity in female rats. J Neuroendocrinol. 2025 Jul 22:e70068. doi: 10.1111/jne.70068The Journal of Neuroendocrinology (owned by the British Society for Neuroendocrinology) is the go-to international journal for neuroendocrine research, with an Impact Factor of 4.1 and a CiteScore of 7.9. Learn more here: Journal website.Stay tuned for more episodes in collaboration with the Parental Brain Special Issue at Mommy Brain Revisited!🎵 Music: Luna Wave – “All In My Head” via SoundStripe.

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, I’m joined by Dr. Mariana Pereira, an Associate Professor at UMass. We dive into the maternal affective state and mother-offspring interactions in an animal model of depressive-like behavior. We also talk about dopamine, maternal mental health and treatment strategies. Tune in for a fascinating conversation on brain changes with maternal mood!For more about Dr Pereira's research, see here. Here is a direct link to the study we talk about. Tuncali, I., Sorial, N., Torr, K. et al. Positive maternal affect during mother–litter interaction is reduced in new mother rats exhibiting a depression-like phenotype. Sci Rep 13, 6552 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33035-z

Pregnancy isn’t just about a baby bump—it’s also a massive hormonal and physiological shift, including how the body regulates temperature.In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, I’m joined by Dr. Rosie Brown, a Senior Lecturer and Group Leader at the University of Otago in New Zealand. We dive into the hormone prolactin—its role in motherhood and the brain—and explore her team’s groundbreaking research on how prolactin helps regulate body temperature during pregnancy. Tune in for a fascinating conversation on all things prolactin and parenting!For more information on Dr Brown’s research see:https://www.otago.ac.nz/neuroendocrinology/research/rosie-brown Here is the citation and link to the publication we talk about:Ladyman SR, Georgescu TR, Stewart AM, Khant Aung Z, Cheong I, Grattan DR, Brown RSE. Prolactin modulation of thermoregulatory circuits provides resilience to thermal challenge of pregnancy. Cell Rep. 2025 Apr 22;44(4):115567. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115567. Epub 2025 Apr 11. PMID: 40215163. 

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Prof Dr Natalya Chechko, a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy at Aachen University. We talk about her recent research investigating maternal brain changes and mental health. We also talk about the neuroendocrine factors that may be involved and how to visualize them in the human brain. Fascinating research! Enjoy. For more information on Dr Chechko’s research see here .Here is a link to her recent .

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Katie Haigler, a graduate student at Penn State, about her research detailing how the maternal brain processes infant and adult emotion cues - aiding in our understanding of emotion regulation in parents. Interesting!For more about Katie’s research seehttps://hhd.psu.edu/contact/katherine-haigler Here is a direct link to the paper we talk about.

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Prof Wendy Saltzman, who is in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at the University of California, Riverside. We talk about her research detailing how caregiving affects the paternal brain and how fascinating parenting is in many species! For more about her research see :https://profiles.ucr.edu/wendy.saltzmanFor a direct link to her lab website see :https://sites.google.com/site/saltzmanlaboratory/Do you want to show your support fo MBR? Give us a rating or buy me a coffee (beer or book) https://buymeacoffee.com/mommybrainrevisited

In this episode I talk with Dr Laura Pritschet about her recent research detailing how the brain changes across pregnancy. It’s a fascinating study! Dr Pritschet is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. For more about her see: https://www.pennlinc.io/team/laura-pritschet The study we talk about: Pritschet L, Taylor CM, Cossio D, Faskowitz J, Santander T, Handwerker DA, Grotzinger H, Layher E, Chrastil ER, Jacobs EG. Neuroanatomical changes observed over the course of a human pregnancy. Nat Neurosci. 2024 Nov;27(11):2253-2260. doi: 10.1038/s41593-024-01741-0. Epub 2024 Sep 16. PMID: 39284962; PMCID: PMC11537970. Music: All in my head by Luna Wave via Soundstripe

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, I talk with Dr Silvana Valtcheva, a Junior Group Leader at University of Cologne in the Faculty of Medicine, about her recent work on oxytocin and it’s role in the maternal brain and behaviour. For more about Dr Valtcheva’s research see: www.valtchevalab.com Paper we talk about: Valtcheva S*#, Issa HA*, Bair-Marshall CJ, Martin KA, Jung K, Zhang Y, Kwon HB, Froemke RC#, Neural circuitry for maternal oxytocin release induced by infant cries. 2023 Nature. Sep;621(7980):788-795. (*co-first author; #co-corresponding author) music: "All In My Head" by Luna Wave from Soundstripe

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited, I talk with Dr Darby Saxbe, Professor of Psychology at USC Dornslife. We talk about her recent work on how brain changes in fathers may reflect parenting engagement and mental health risk. Fascinating! For more about Dr Saxbe see https://dornsife.usc.edu/nestlab/current-members/ Her book ‘Dad Brain’ will be out in 2026! Can't wait! Paper we talk about: Saxbe D, Martínez-García M. Cortical volume reductions in men transitioning to first-time fatherhood reflect both parenting engagement and mental health risk. Cereb Cortex. 2024 Apr 1;34(4):bhae126. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhae126. PMID: 38615244. For more about Jodi Pawluski see www.jodipawluski.com. music: All In My Head - Luna Wave via Soundstripe

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Susana Carmona, Research Scientist at the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, Spain. We talk about her recent research on how a mother’s brain changes from late pregnancy to the early postpartum published in Nature Neuroscience early this year. Fascinating research and the first of its kind! For more about Dr Carmona see: https://neuromaternal.es/ Her book is available in Spanish and titled: Neuromaternal: ¿Qué le pasa a mi cerebro durante el embarazo y la maternidad?. For our episode together on Matrescence and Adolescence see episode 6 here.   Paper we talk about: Paternina-Die, M., Martínez-García, M., Martín de Blas, D. et al. Women’s neuroplasticity during gestation, childbirth and postpartum. Nat Neurosci 27, 319–327 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01513-2⁠ Link to paper⁠     Music: Luna Wave via Soundstripe

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Nicolas Renier, the Team Leader of the Laboratory of Structural Plasticity at the Paris Brain Institute. We talk about his work on the neural mechanisms modulating nest building in mice during pregnancy. A fascinating study with amazing neuroscience techniques. We also talk about the value of using pregnancy as a model to understand neurophysiological processes, the important role of pregnancy in remodeling certain parts of the brain, what progesterone can do to neurons and more. Fascinating! For more about Dr Renier see: www.renier-lab.com Link to paper Paper citation: Topilko T, Diaz SL, Pacheco CM, Verny F, Rousseau CV, Kirst C, Deleuze C, Gaspar P, Renier N. Edinger-Westphal peptidergic neurons enable maternal preparatory nesting. Neuron. 2022 Apr 20;110(8):1385-1399.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.01.012. Epub 2022 Feb 4. PMID: 35123655; PMCID: PMC9090132. Music: Luna Wave via Soundstripe

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Shir Atzil an Assistant Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. We discuss her recent Perspective in Nature Human Behaviour titled ‘Growing A Social Brain’. A must read! We talk about the importance of a caregiver or caregivers in growing a social brain, what happens when infants are more challenging or parents are struggling, and the fact that the parental brain is actually in charge of two brains. You won’t want to miss this one! For more information on Dr Atzil see https://www.atzillab.com/ Here is a link to the paper that we talk about: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0384-6#auth-Shir-Atzil Citation: Atzil, S., Gao, W., Fradkin, I. et al. Growing a social brain. Nat Hum Behav 2, 624–636 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0384-6

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Catherine Preston, an Associate Professor at the University of York. We talk about body sensations in pregnancy, trusting your perinatal body, bonding to bump, birth experience, and more. We also talk about the need to focus our research on pregnancy and importance of understanding the connection between interoception and the maternal brain in health and illness. For more information on Dr Preston’s research see https://www.york.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academicstaff/cp1039/ Here is a link to the paper that we talk about: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026661382400024X Citation for paper: Lucy Stafford, Lydia Munns, Anna E. Crossland, Elizabeth Kirk, Catherine E.J. Preston, Bonding with bump: Interoceptive sensibility moderates the relationship between pregnancy body satisfaction and antenatal attachment, Midwifery, Volume 131, 2024, 103940, ISSN 0266-6138,

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Danielle Stolzenberg, an Associate Professor at UC Davis, about the nonhormonal basis of parenting, modelling perinatal mental illness, and the 51 Foundation which she started. We also talk about the need to understand current treatments for perinatal mental illness (particularly SSRIs) and the importance of funding research in females. Yes! For more information on Dr Stolzenberg see https://psychology.ucdavis.edu/people/dstolzen Here is a link to the paper that we talk about: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34674243/ Paper citation: Rosinger ZJ, Mayer HS, Geyfen JI, Orser MK, Stolzenberg DS. Ethologically relevant repeated acute social stress induces maternal neglect in the lactating female mouse. Dev Psychobiol. 2021 Nov;63(7):e22173. doi: 10.1002/dev.22173. PMID: 34674243; PMCID: PMC10631567.

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Maria Muzik and Dr. Katherine Rosenblum about Mom Power, a parenting intervention they developed, and how it impacts parents and the parental brain. Both are Professors in the Departments Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology, as well as Co-Directors of Zero To Thrive & Women and Infant Mental Health Program at the University of Michigan. We talk about the development of Mom Power, it’s core components and the research supporting the importance of this group intervention. We also talk about attachment, the importance of nature, and building ‘strong roots’. It was an honor to speak with these two inspiring clinician-scientists. If you work with parents, this episode is a must. For more information on Mom Power and Zero to Thrive, including research and training opportunities see: https://zerotothrive.org/ Here is a link to the paper on the parental brain that we talk about: https://zerotothrive.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Frontiers-Mom-Power.pdf

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Jonny Kohl, Group Leader, State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK. We talk about his new research on how the hormones of pregnancy affect specific neurons in the MPOA that essential for parenting. It’s a fascinating new finding and provides valuable insight into the neuroendocrine factors governing parental care. We also talk about whether or not we should be using reproductively experienced females more in general neuroscience research because of the long-term impact of pregnancy on the brain, the importance of state in general and practical considerations for doing these types of studies. It’s a good one. You won’t want to miss it. For more information on Dr Kohl and his group: https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/find-a-researcher/jonny-kohl Here is a link to the paper we talk about: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi0576

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Pascal Vrticka, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex. We talk about all thing’s attachment and neural synchrony in mother-child and father-child dyads. We also talk about attachment parenting and how our beliefs about parenting can impact how our brain functions. Fascinating! Don’t miss this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited. It will make you rethink about how the parental brain is working and why! For more information on Dr Vrticka’s work: https://pvrticka.com/ For a free pdf of the book we talk about see: https://babygro.org/babygro-book Follow Dr Vrticka on Instagram @pascalvrticka where you at ask him about attachment in his Q&A!

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Kristina M. Deligiannidis, MD, Professor, Institute of Behavioral Science, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Director, Women’s Behavioral Health, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Northwell Health, Professor, Psychiatry, Molecular Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, USA. We talk about her research on the development of neurosteroid treatments for postpartum depression. In particular we talk about her work on the new FDA approved oral medication for postpartum depression – Zuranolone as well as some practical information on Zuranolone, itself. Don’t miss this episode on Mommy Brain Revisited. It’s an important one for understanding the current treatment options and challenges for perinatal mental illness. For more information on Dr Deligiannidis’ work and her contact information see: https://feinstein.northwell.edu/institutes-researchers/our-researchers/kristina-m-deligiannidis-md Download one of the publications that we talk about here: https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.20220785

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Devaleena Pradhan, Associate Professor of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology and Physiology at Idaho State University, USA. We talk about fatherhood, the neural mechanisms mediating parenting, the origins of parenting behaviors and more. We also talk about her research on parenting in sex-changing fish and what we can learn from them. Don’t miss this episode. It will make you rethink sex/gender and parenting! For more information on Dr Pradhan’s work and her contact information see: https://www.isu.edu/biology/people/faculty---professors/--devaleena-s-pradhan/ Download one of the publications that we talk about here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24827441/   Music: Luna Wave via Soundstrip

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Tara Chaplin, Associate Professor of Psychology at George Mason University, USA. We talk about parenting, mindfulness, and the parental brain. We also talk about the importance of mindfulness in terms of parenting tweens and teens, how mindfulness helps empower parents to parent with intention (wow!), and her ongoing research in this area. Don’t miss this episode on Mommy Brain Revisited. It will make you want to be more mindful! Download the publication that we talk about here: Affective Neural Mechanisms of a Parenting-Focused Mindfulness Intervention https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7962669/pdf/nihms-1525033.pdf For more information on Dr Chaplin’s work: https://yel.gmu.edu/ Although the Mindfulness intervention they use is not readily available it is based on MBSR or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction techniques and other evidence based interventions. Book recommendation: Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting by Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn. Citation of study we talk about: Turpyn CC, Chaplin TM, Fischer S, Thompson JC, Fedota JR, Baer RA, Martelli AM. Affective Neural Mechanisms of a Parenting-Focused Mindfulness Intervention. Mindfulness (N Y). 2021 Feb;12(2):392-404. doi: 10.1007/s12671-019-01118-6. Epub 2019 Feb 16.