Nature Neuroscience | Volume 27 | November 2024 | 2253–2260 2256
Resource https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01741-0
T stat
Inferior parietal
Control network B
4
–14
a Whole-brain GMV
GMV ~ gestation week
Lat Med
L
R
Baseline – 36 weeks
GMV change by networkb
DMNC
VisPeri
LimbicA
LimbicB
DMNB
DMNA
SomMotB
VisCent
ContC
TempPar
DorsAttnA
ContA
SomMotA
SalVentAttnA
SalVentAttnB
ContB
Total
DorsAttnB
–8
–5
–3
0
2
Percent
c
Postcentral gyrus
Dorsal attention network B
Frontal eye fields
Dorsal attention network B
Medial frontal
Salience ventral attention network A
Insula
Salience ventral attention network B
Precuneus/posterior cingulate
Default mode network A
Avg GMV (zero centered)
Regional GMV
2
1
0
–2
–1
2
1
0
–2
–1
Stage
2nd
Week
3020100 Pre 1st 3rd Post
StageWeek
3020100
StageWeek
3020100
Avg GMV (zero centered)
2
1
0
–2
–1
2
1
0
–2
–1
Gestation + postpartumGestation Gestation + postpartumGestation Gestation + postpartumGestation
Gestation + postpartumGestation Gestation + postpartumGestation Gestation + postpartumGestation
StageWeek
3020100
StageWeek
3020100
StageWeek
3020100
2
1
0
–2
–1
2
1
0
–2
–1
2
1
0
–2
–1
2
1
0
–2
–1
2
1
0
–2
–1
2
1
0
–2
–1 Avg GMV (zero centered)Avg GMV (zero centered)
Avg GMV (zero centered)
Avg GMV (zero centered)
2ndPre 1st 3rd Post 2ndPre 1st 3rd Post
2
1
0
–2
–1
2
1
0
–2
–1
2ndPre 1st 3rd Post 2ndPre 1st 3rd Post 2ndPre 1st 3rd Post
Fig. 2 | Cortical GMV showed widespread change through gestation and 
postpartum. a, Multivariate regression analyses reveal largely negative 
relationships between gestation week and regional GMV, with only a minority 
of regions unaffected or increasing over the gestational window (baseline—36 
weeks). All associations presented here were corrected for multiple comparisons 
(FDR at q < 0.05; nonsignificant values set to zero for interpretability). b, Average 
network change was calculated by estimating GMV percent change from baseline 
(initial) to 36 weeks gestation (final). Attention and control networks appear 
most affected. c, Six representative regions, classified by major subnetworks, 
that exhibit pronounced GMV change across gestation. For each panel, we 
display a scatterplot between average GMV of the ROIs and gestation week  
(left; gestation sessions only, 19 scans), and summary GMV of ROIs by pregnancy 
stage across the whole study (right; gestation and postpartum sessions, 26 scans).  
Shaded regions in scatterplots represent a 95% confidence interval. Each 
boxplot represents IQR for each stage, with a horizontal line representing the 
median value. The whiskers indicate variability outside (±1.5) of this range. 
Outside values are >1.5× and <3× IQR beyond either end of the box. All statistical 
tests were corrected for multiple comparisons (FDR at q < 0.05) and values 
were z scored and transformed to have a mean of zero and s.d. of one for easier 
comparison across regions. Please note that the data values shown here are raw 
(see Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 and Supplementary Data 1 for exhaustive list). 
Brain visualizations created with R package ggseg48. IQR, interquartile range; 
Lat, lateral; Med, medial; DMN, default mode network; VisPeri, visual peripheral 
network; SomMot, somatomotor network; VisCent, visual central network; Cont, 
control network; T empPar, temporal parietal network; DorsAttn, dorsal attention 
network; SalVentAttn, salience/ventral attention network.