Becoming pregnant changes a woman’s brain, researchers say, in findings that could help doctors treat conditions developed by expecting moms. A group of national scientists have created the first-ever map of a human brain during pregnancy, identifying a decrease in the brain’s gray matter and an increase in its white matter.

Researchers have created one of the most detailed maps of how pregnancy changes the brain, according to a new study.

A first-of-its-kind case study has highlighted the ways in which the brain changes throughout pregnancy, including decreases in gray matter volume, and increases in white matter.

The brain undergoes a "sweeping reorganisation" when a woman is expecting a baby, said The Guardian, and few areas are untouched by the process. Regular MRI scans from before conception until two years after childbirth revealed "widespread reorganisation" in the mother's brain, said the paper.

A new study mapped how the brain responds to rapid hormonal changes during pregnancy, which could explain a wide range of experiences that pregnant women have, according to experts.

Changes that sweep the the human brain during pregnancy have been documented for the first time, using precise MRI scans. Scientists conducted 26 brain scans on and took blood samples from a healthy 38-year-old woman,

Instead, neuroscientists are just beginning to document how hormones drive an intricate, choreographed set of changes that may prepare and hone the brain for parenting. When neuroscientist Liz Chrastil and her husband were ready to start her family,