Birth Method Impacts on Brain Development and Behavior

New research in mice suggests that whether pups are delivered vaginally or by caesarean section (C-section) has measurable effects on the developmental process of neuronal cell death, and alters neonatal brain development and behavior. Results of the studies, by Nancy Forger, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( PNAS ), in a paper titled, “ Birth delivery mode alters perinatal c