High Frequency Ultrasound for In Vivo Pregnancy Diagnosis and Staging of Placental and Fetal Development in Mice

摘要

Background: Ultrasound is a valuable non-invasive tool used in obstetrics and gynecology to monitor the growth and well\udbeing of the human fetus. The laboratory mouse has recently emerged as an appropriate model for fetal and perinatal\udstudies because morphogenetic processes in mice exhibit adequate homology to those in humans, and genetic\udmanipulations are relatively simple to perform in mice. High-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) has recently become available for\udsmall animal preclinical imaging and can be used to study pregnancy and development in the mouse. The objective of the\udcurrent study was to assess the main applications of HFUS in the evaluation of fetal growth and placental function and to\udbetter understand human congenital diseases.\udMethodology/Principal Findings: On each gestational day, at least 5 dams were monitored with HFUS; a total of ,200\udembryos were examined. Because it is not possible to measure each variable for the entire duration of the pregnancy, the\udparameters were divided into three groups as a function of the time at which they were measured. Univariate analysis of the\udrelationship between each measurement and the embryonic day was performed using Spearman’s rank correlation (Rs).\udContinuous linear regression was adopted for multivariate analysis of significant parameters. All statistical tests were twosided,\udand a p value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant.\udConclusions/Significance: The study describes the main applications of HFUS to assess changes in phenotypic parameters\udin the developing CD1 mouse embryo and fetus during pregnancy and to evaluating physiological fetal and placental\udgrowth and the development of principal organs such as the heart, kidney, liver, brain and eyes in the embryonic mouse. A\uddatabase of normal structural and functional parameters of mouse development will provide a useful tool for the better\udunderstanding of morphogenetic and cardiovascular anomalies in transgenic and mutant mouse models.