Preeclampsia (PE) is a multifactorial gestational disorder characterized by maternal hypertension and proteinuria, primarily caused by abnormal placental development. This study employs quantitative ultrasound (QUS) to noninvasively monitor the placental microstructural changes in preeclampsia by analyzing raw radiofrequency (RF) echo signals to provide quantitative parameters such as effective scatter diameter (ESD) and homodyned K-distribution temporal parameter α. In our previous study, the reduced uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) model exhibited significantly lower temporal α 1 and ESD values 2, suggesting abnormal placental changes correlated with the development of preeclampsia. Here, we investigated tissue microstructural changes in the Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl SS/Jr) rat. The Dahl SS/Jr rat is a genetically hypertensive strain that exhibits preeclampsia-like symptoms, allowing for longitudinal imaging from early to late stages of pregnancy, from gestational day 10 (GD10) to GD20. RF data were collected from 7 Dahl SS/Jr rats and 6 Sprague Dawley rats at GD12, GD15, and GD19. Burr λ, Spectral Slope (SS), and ESD were significantly elevated in the Dahl SS/Jr group (p 0.05). Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was performed to analyze nuclear size across different placental regions. Future studies will explore the relationship between placental nuclear size and ESD, Burr λ, and SS in Dahl SS rats.
Shi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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