Becoming a mother leaves long-lasting molecular memories

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20 May 2026 Becoming a mother leaves long-lasting molecular memories In mice, motherhood induces transcriptional changes in the brain that endure beyond short-term hormonal shifts. Postpartum stress disrupts these patterns. By Frances A. Champagne 0 Frances A. Champagne Frances A. Champagne is in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78731, USA. View author publications PubMed Google Scholar

The experience of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period changes the brain. Writing in Nature, O’Chan et al.1 explore shifts in gene transcription and its regulation in the brains of female mice that have undergone a range of physiological and behavioural experiences that are associated with pregnancy and motherhood. The authors identify a brain region involved in learning and memory that exhibits particularly strong transcriptional changes in response to reproductive experience, and show that postpartum stress disrupts these effects. They also show that the neurotransmitter molecule dopamine is a key player in the regulatory process that maintains this transcriptional state.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01327-9

References O’Chan, J. C. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10509-4 (2026). Servin-Barthet, C. et al. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 24, 605–619 (2023). Champagne, F. A. Dev. Psychobiol. 55, 33–41 (2013). Orchard, E. R., Rutherford, H. J. V., Holmes, A. J. & Jamadar, S. D. Trends Cogn. Sci. 27, 302–316 (2023). Chechko, N. & Nehls, S. Nature Ment. Health 3, 396–401 (2025). Fulton, S. L. et al. Neuropsychopharmacology 47, 1776–1783 (2022). Download references

Competing Interests The author declares no competing interests.

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