This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Introduction: In the United States, Pre-Eclampsia (PE) occurs in roughly 10% of pregnancies, and is responsible for at least 20% of maternal deaths and 15% of premature births in the U.S. every year, worldwide these numbers are much higher. Several lines of evidence point towards poor placental implantation and subsequent malformation and dysfunction as a root cause of this disease. Since MR imaging is a sensitive modality with which we can study the in vivo placenta with minimal risk to the fetus, and since very little is known about the magnetic properties of the human placenta at 1.5 Tesla, this study of the relaxation parameters of the post partum human placenta was undertaken on 7 different singleton pregnancies. Placentas were collected from: 2 healthy pregnancies, 3 w/ mild PE, and 2 exhibiting severe PE. Methods and Discussion: Placentas were collected, secured in a container of 0.5% NaCl water, and MR scans performed at room temperature in a 1.5T GE Signa scanner within 24 hours of birth. Basic information about the severity of PE was recorded. A single channel body coil used for transmit was paired with an 8 channel head coil for signal reception. All image sets consisted of five 10mm slices ( 5mm spacing) through the placenta, NEX=1 and 256x256 data points. The T1 image sets consisted of 4 TRs all with a minimum full TE (14 ms). The T2 image sets consisted of 4 TEs with a TR of 2 sec. Relaxation times were calculated from the least squares fit to the equations. Slice by slice, regions of varying sizes but completely within the placenta were chosen by hand, and average relaxation times were computed as the mean of relaxation times pixel by pixel within each region, along with the average S.D. of these times within each region.
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