Placental perfusion in uterine ischemia model as evaluated by dynamic contrast enhanced MRI

Abstract

Background To validate DCE MRI method of placental perfusion estimation and to demonstrate application of the method in a rabbit model of fetal antenatal hypoxia-ischemia. Methods Placental perfusion was estimated by dynamic contrast imaging with bolus injection of Gd-DTPA in 3 Tesla GE magnet in a rabbit model of placental ischemia–reperfusion in rabbit dams at embryonic day 25 gestation age. Placental perfusion was measured using steepest slope method on DCE MRI before and after intermittent 40 min uterine ischemia. Antioxidants (n = 2 dams, 9 placentas imaged) or vehicle (n = 5 dams, 23 placenta imaged) were given systemically in a separate group of dams during reperfusion–reoxygenation. Placental perfusion was also measured in two dams from the antioxidant group (10 placentas) and two dams from the control group (12 placentas) by fluorescent microspheres method. Results While placental perfusion estimates between fluorescent microspheres and DCE MRI were significantly correlated (R2 = 0.85; P < 0.01), there was approximately 33% systematic underestimation by the latter technique. DCE MRI showed a significant decrease in maternal placental perfusion in reperfusion–reoxygenation phase in the saline, 0.44 ± 0.06 mL/min/g (P = 0.012, t-test), but not in the antioxidant group, 0.62 ± 0.06 mL/min/g, relative to preocclusion values (0.77 ± 0.07 and 0.84 ± 0.12 mL/min/g, correspondingly). Conclusion Underestimation of true perfusion in placenta by steepest slope DCE MRI is significant and the error appears to be systematic.

Assessment of Placental Perfusion in the Preeclampsia L-NAME Rat Model with High-Field Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI

“…Animal DCE MRI, the technique that we chose, has been recently used in studies to investigate pathological models [19, 23]. Placental perfusion has also been studied by techniques other than DCE in humans, such as arterial spin labeling and intravoxel incoherent motion [13].…”

“…DCE MRI was chosen to study placental function in this model: it is a robust method for assessing placental perfusion, and has been used successfully in several studies [5, 8, 12, 19-23]. Our results for the control group were similar to those reported in the literature under normal conditions, with a mean placental blood flow of 140–149 mL/min/100 mL, in accordance with previous results obtained with DCE MRI [5-8, 13].…”

The Co-evaluation of Endometrial Edema and Uterus Inflammation after the “U-74389G” Effect on Uterine Ischemia Reperfusion Injury

“…Iran-Nejad et al [8] found the uterus weight augmented by estradiol (P<0.05) after renal IR injury in female rats. Drobyshevsky et al [9] showed a significant 3.72-fold hypoperfusion of the maternal…”