Greater than 60% of placentae from low birth weight infants show signs of hypoxic or ischemic injury from vascular hypo-perfusion. Placental fractional blood volume (FBV) is indicative of perfusion and may be used as a marker of local ischemia. Non-invasive methods for the estimation of placental FBV are therefore of interest in the study of placental pathology. In this pre-clinical study, we investigated contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the estimation of placental FBV in a pregnant mouse model. A high T1 relaxivity blood-pool liposomal-gadolinium (liposomal-Gd) contrast agent, which does not permeate placental barrier in rodents, was used to calculate placental FBV.
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