Devasuda Anblagan1,
Nia W. Jones2, Carolyn Costigan1, Ruta Deshpande2,
Nick Raine-Fenning3, George Bugg2, Zdenka Pausova4,
5, Tomas Paus6, 7, Penelope A. Gowland1
1Sir
Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, University of Nottingham,
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom; 2Nottingham University
Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom; 3Division
of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, School of Clinical Sciences, University of
Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom; 4Research
Institute of the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada; 5Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada; 6Rotman Research Institute, University of Toronto,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 7School of Psychology, University of
Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
High volume, low resistance blood flow in the placenta is thought to be essential for fetal growth and development and is impaired by maternal smoking. Using intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) we assessed placental blood flow in pregnant smokers and controls. Blood flow was significantly increased and diffusion decreased in the chorionic plate with gestational age, with similar trends for the basal plate and placenta. Basal plate blood-flow was higher in smokers at mid-gestation, which would be consistent with impaired placental implantation, possibly related to the up-regulation of vascular growth factors by nicotine.
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