{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T20:01:56Z","timestamp":1790020916269,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":76,"publisher":"National Academy of Sciences","issue":"39","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.pnas.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Pregnancy induces widespread physiological adaptations, including changes to core temperature (T\n                    <jats:sub>c<\/jats:sub>\n                    ), that may reduce fetal heat stress and enhance metabolic stability. Despite the potential importance of maternal thermoregulatory changes, the neural mechanisms organizing homeostatic rhythms during pregnancy remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that pregnancy profoundly reshapes thermoregulatory dynamics across diurnal and ultradian timescales and that these changes are partially orchestrated by estrogen receptor alpha (ER\u03b1) signaling in neurons of the medial preoptic area (MPO\n                    <jats:sup>ER\u0251<\/jats:sup>\n                    ). Using in vivo calcium recordings of MPO\n                    <jats:sup>ER\u0251<\/jats:sup>\n                    neurons, we show that MPO\n                    <jats:sup>ER\u0251<\/jats:sup>\n                    neural activity is synchronized with T\n                    <jats:sub>c<\/jats:sub>\n                    oscillations in nonpregnant mice. Notably, this synchronization is lost during pregnancy and reemerges after parturition, indicating that MPO\n                    <jats:sup>ER\u0251<\/jats:sup>\n                    activity and T\n                    <jats:sub>c<\/jats:sub>\n                    are synchronized in a manner that is dependent on reproductive state. Using chemogenetic inhibition, we show that MPO\n                    <jats:sup>ER\u0251<\/jats:sup>\n                    neurons are required for the lowering of T\n                    <jats:sub>c<\/jats:sub>\n                    in late pregnancy. Using a genomic estrogen signaling reporter, we demonstrate that MPO\n                    <jats:sup>ER\u0251<\/jats:sup>\n                    neurons exhibit enhanced estrogen signaling in late pregnancy. This estrogen signaling helps coordinate maternal T\n                    <jats:sub>c<\/jats:sub>\n                    changes, as selectively ablating ER\u03b1 expression in the MPO increased T\n                    <jats:sub>c<\/jats:sub>\n                    and its circadian and ultradian rhythmicity. Finally, we show that manipulating MPO\n                    <jats:sup>ER\u0251<\/jats:sup>\n                    cell activity and MPO\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Esr1<\/jats:italic>\n                    expression affected neonates: Silencing MPO\n                    <jats:sup>ER\u0251<\/jats:sup>\n                    neurons led to premature birth, while both silencing and gene ablation led to sex-specific changes to offspring body mass. In summary, these findings reveal a global suppression of T\n                    <jats:sub>c<\/jats:sub>\n                    circadian and ultradian rhythmicity during pregnancy and identify ER\u03b1 as a central modulator of these rhythms with consequences for fetal development.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2611415123","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T19:12:05Z","timestamp":1790017925000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.cm10313","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Pregnancy damps thermoregulatory rhythms across timescales through neural estrogen signaling in mice"],"prefix":"10.1073","volume":"123","author":[{"given":"Laura R.","family":"Cortes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/046rm7j60","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California Los Angeles","place":["Los Angeles"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lingyun","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/046rm7j60","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California Los Angeles","place":["Los Angeles"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-6719-5722","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adriana R.","family":"Vree","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/046rm7j60","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California Los Angeles","place":["Los Angeles"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fernando M. 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