Preparation for motherhood requires a myriad of physiological and behavioural adjustments throughout gestation to provide an adequate environment for proper embryonic development¹. Cravings for highly palatable foods are highly prevalent during pregnancy² and contribute to the maintenance and development of gestational overweight or obesity³. However, the neurobiology underlying the distinct ingestive behaviours that result from craving specific foods remain unknown. Here we show that mice, similarly to humans, experience gestational food craving-like episodes. These episodes are associated with a brain connectivity reorganization that affects key components of the dopaminergic mesolimbic circuitry, which drives motivated appetitive behaviours and facilitates the perception of rewarding stimuli. Pregnancy engages a dynamic modulation of dopaminergic signalling through neurons expressing dopamine D2 receptors in the nucleus accumbens, which directly modulate food craving-like events. Importantly, persistent maternal food craving-like behaviour has long-lasting effects on the offspring, particularly in males, leading to glucose intolerance, increased body weight and increased susceptibility to develop eating disorders and anxiety-like behaviours during adulthood. Our results reveal the cognitively motivated nature of pregnancy food cravings and advocates for moderating emotional eating during gestation to prevent deterioration of the offspring’s neuropsychological and metabolic health.

为母性做准备需要在整个妊娠期间进行无数的生理和行为调整，以便为胚胎的正常发育提供充足的环境¹。对美味食物的渴望在怀孕期间非常普遍²并有助于维持和发展妊娠期超重或肥胖³. 然而，由于对特定食物的渴望而导致的不同摄取行为背后的神经生物学仍然未知。在这里，我们表明小鼠与人类类似，也会经历类似妊娠期食物渴望的事件。这些事件与影响多巴胺能中脑边缘回路关键组成部分的大脑连接重组有关，多巴胺能中脑边缘回路驱动有动机的食欲行为并促进对奖励刺激的感知。怀孕通过伏隔核中表达多巴胺 D2 受体的神经元对多巴胺能信号进行动态调节，从而直接调节类似食物的渴望事件。重要的是，持续的母性渴望食物的行为会对后代产生长期影响，尤其是男性，导致葡萄糖不耐受，体重增加，成年后更容易出现饮食失调和类似焦虑的行为。我们的研究结果揭示了怀孕期食物渴望的认知动机性质，并提倡在妊娠期间节制情绪化饮食，以防止后代神经心理和代谢健康恶化。