The majority of variance in birthweight relative to placental weight (as beta=ln(PW)/ln(BW) is accounted for by detailed novel placental measures: implications for fetal origins work

Abstract

s / Placenta 34 (2013) A1–A99 A14 structural complexity (Figure 2) Microscopic review confirmed differences in the numbers, sizes and shapes of villi (Figure 3 ASD, Figure 4 control). Conclusions: These preliminary data represent our second test of distal villi from ASD and control placentas. However, these subjective assessments must be replaced by quantitative methods. Additional methods to enhance structural detail include tagged cytokeratin and endothelial cell antibodies; analytic methods include fractal analysis, radon transformation and 2D Fourier analysis. These observations appear to be gender independent. Tentatively, these findings support an hypothesis based on angiogenesis driving neurogenesis that relates vascular structure to ASD, a disorder of neuronal connectivity.