Emerging placental biomarkers of health and disease through advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Exp Neurol. 2021 Sep 22:113868. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2021.113868. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPlacental dysfunction is a major cause of fetal demise, fetal growth restriction, and preterm birth, as well as significant maternal morbidity and mortality. Infant survivors of placental dysfunction are at elevated increased risk for lifelong neuropsychiatric morbidity. However, despite the significant consequences of placental disease, there are no clinical tools to directly and non-invasively assess and measure placental function in pregnancy. In this work, we will review advanced MRI techniques applied to the study of the in vivo human placenta in order to better detail placental structure, architecture, and function. We will discuss the potential of these measures to serve as optimal biomarkers of placental dysfunction and review the evidence of these tools in the discrimination of health and disease in pregnancy. Efforts to advance our understanding of in vivo placental development are necessary if we are to optimize healthy pregnancy outcomes and prevent brain injury in successive generations. Current management of many high-risk pregnancies cannot address placental maldevelopment or injury, given the standard tools available to clinicians. Once accurate biomarkers of placental development and function are constructed, the subsequent steps will be to introduce maternal and fetal therapeutics targeting at optimizing placental function. Applying these biomarkers in future ...
Source: Experimental Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research