Project Overview

Pregnancy and the postpartum period are high risk for depression onset and other psychiatric disorders in the birthing parent. Up to 20% of females experience postpartum depression, which not only impacts maternal health, but has transgenerational impact on children’s neurodevelopmental and mental health risk. Boys are more likely to develop neurodevelopment disorders early in life compared to girls, whereas girls are more likely to develop neuropsychiatric disorders that emerge during adolescence compared to boys, and these effects are exacerbated by postpartum depression. There is a critical unmet need to understand mechanisms underlying postpartum depression in order to facilitate novel therapeutic discovery that has far-reaching implications for the health of the mother and her children. In this proposed research we examine where in the brain, what brain cell types are affected and how the identification of these changes differ with pregnancy and the postpartum as well as in a preclinical model of postpartum depression. It is important to understand why the postpartum is of such great risk for psychiatric disease in the birthing parent and we have a limited understanding of the mechanisms that underlie brain adaptation during and after pregnancy and this research will fill this gap. Our preclinical model of postpartum depression involves exposing the mother to high levels of stress hormones. Our experiments will also uncover how and when and where in the brain the male and female offspring from these exposed mothers with postpartum depression differ in their susceptibility to develop neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety or depression during childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. Our findings have potential to not only facilitate a better understanding of postpartum depression but to generate key therapeutic targets to improve mental health outcomes for both the mothers and their children with a role for sex-specific targets.

Principal Investigator

Liisa Galea , Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Partners and Donors

The Krembil Foundation

Women's Brain Health Initiative