Abstract
The villous tree of the human placenta is a complex three-dimensional (3D) structure with branches and nodes at the feto-maternal border in the key area of gas and nutrient exchange. Recently we introduced a novel, computer-assisted 3D light microscopic method that enables 3D topological analysis of branching patterns of the human placental villous tree. In the present study we applied this novel method to the 3D architecture of peripheral villous trees of placentas from patients with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR placentas), a severe obstetric syndrome. We found that the mean branching angle of branches in terminal positions of the villous trees was significantly different statistically between IUGR placentas and clinically normal placentas. Furthermore, the mean tortuosity of branches of villous trees in directly preterminal positions was significantly different statistically between IUGR placentas and clinically normal placentas. We show that these differences can be interpreted as consequences of morphological adaptation of villous trees between IUGR placentas and clinically normal placentas, and may have important consequences for the understanding of the morphological correlates of the efficiency of the placental villous tree and their influence on fetal development.
Highlights
Trees[12,13]
The individual mean tortuosity of villous branches in directly preterminal position of the villous tree was significantly lower statistically in the intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) placentas than the clinically normal placentas (p = 0.0002; Fig. 2)
Detailed analysis revealed that the observed difference between the IUGR placentas and the clinically normal placentas was caused by a subset of clinically normal placentas with individual mean tortuosity of villous branches at position bT1 of more than 1.2, i.e., a higher value than found for any of the investigated IUGR placentas
Summary
This method allows instant determination of topological parameters such as hierarchy of branches, branching angles and length of branches of isolated peripheral villous trees In the present study we hypothesized that such advanced 3D microscopic analysis will reveal differences of e.g. branching and length and/or tortuosity of branches in defined topological positions of isolated peripheral villous trees of IUGR placentas as compared to villous trees of clinically normal placentas. We tested this hypothesis on two collections of human placentas, i.e., n = 40 IUGR placentas and n = 50 clinically normal placentas. We found that individual mean branching angles of villi in terminal position (i.e., one value per investigated placenta) and individual mean tortuosity of villi in directly preterminal position were significantly different statistically between IUGR placentas and clinically normal placentas
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