Optical tissue clearing in combination with perfusion and immunofluorescence for placental vascular imaging.

Imaging of placental tissues is a difficult task, because of specific for this organ complex multicellular and 3D tissue structure. The tissue clearing systems (X-CLARITY) system is a valuable tool for the examining the expression of molecular pathways in whole tissues and organs, originally developed for brain imaging.In the present report, we utilized this technology for the examination of placental vasculature and protein expression in perfused human placental tissue.

Low-Fidelity Simulator for the Standardized Training of Fetoscopic Meningomyelocele Repair.

Background: Fetoscopic meningomyelocele repair in a gas-filled uterus is a new technique performed in very few centers. There are few opportunities as well as ethical prohibitions on the initial development and subsequent refinement of innovative fetal surgery techniques in humans, and using an animal model is both very expensive and logistically difficult.

Method: We developed a low-fidelity endoscopic fetal surgery simulation using a plastic doll and pieces of chicken breast to simulate a fetal meningomyelocele, and a polyurethane ball to simulate a gas-filled uterus, along with a standard endoscopy system and instruments.

Pre-clinical evaluation of a nanoparticle-based blood-pool contrast agent for MR imaging of the placenta.

Introduction: Non-invasive 3D imaging that enables clear visualization of placental margins is of interest in the accurate diagnosis of placental pathologies. This study investigated if contrast-enhanced MRI performed using a liposomal gadolinium blood-pool contrast agent (liposomal-Gd) enables clear visualization of the placental margins and the placental-myometrial interface (retroplacental space). Non-contrast MRI and contrast-enhanced MRI using a clinically approved conventional contrast agent were used as comparators.

L-arginine prevents hypoxia-induced vasoconstriction in dual-perfused human placental cotyledons.

Introduction: Chronic hypoxia in the uteroplacental unit is associated with increased resistance to blood flow in the fetal-placental circulation. These changes can lead to adverse cardiovascular events in adulthood. This study investigates whether L-arginine (substrate for nitric oxide synthase (NOS) or endothelin-A receptor antagonist BQ123 administration reverses hypoxia-induced changes in perfusion pressure in the fetal compartment in dual-perfused placental cotyledons.

Correlation properties of multiple scattered light: implication to coherent diagnostics of burned skin.

Modeling of skin burns has been performed in this study. Autocorrelation functions of intensity fluctuations of scattered light were measured for two-layered turbid media. The first layer served as a model for motionless scatterers (optically inhomogeneous gel film) whereas the second one simulated dynamic light scattering (Brownian motion of intralipid particles in aqueous suspension).