Skip to main content
Log in

Morphometry of the Basal Plate Superficial Uteroplacental Vasculature in Normal Midtrimester and at Term

Pediatric and Developmental Pathology

Abstract

Uteroplacental (UP) vascular arterial pathology has been associated with pregnancy complications. UP arterial structure has been characterized in placental bed biopsies, at the decidual-myometrial junction. Basal plate UP arteries, which are delivered with the placenta and thus routinely available, are not well characterized. We compared basal plate UP arterial segment morphometry in cases of elective termination of a clinically normal pregnancy at 11 to 24 weeks and of term birth. This study was done in a community-based obstetric service in New York City. UP arteries were identified in placentas of 20 midtrimester (MT) cases and 17 term (TERM) cases. We measured 336 UP artery cross-sections from 46 TERM and 290 MT cases. The basal plate UP artery path length was calculated as the distance between (x,y) coordinates of estimated centers of lumen cross-sections. Basal plate thickness near UP arteries, UP artery cross-sectional areas, vascular luminal eccentricity, and radial standard deviation were directly measured off digital images. Nonparametric and parametric methods compared groups, with P < 0.05 considered statistically significant. In TERM cases, the basal plate thickness near UP arteries was 1.8-fold thinner (P = 0.002) and mean basal plate path lengths were 2.13-fold shorter (P < 0.0001) than in MT cases. Mean TERM UP artery cross-sectional area was 3.15-fold larger, the major axis was 1.95-fold larger, and the minor axis was 1.75-fold larger than in MT arteries (P = 0.001 to 0.008). Our data demonstrate that basal plate UP arteries (delivered with the placenta) are less tortuous, with shorter path lengths and larger areas as gestation advances. Normative morphometric data may allow improved diagnostics of placentas from complicated pregnancies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 4.

References

  1. Kramer MS, McLean FH, Eason EL, Usher RH. Maternal nutrition and spontaneous preterm birth. Am J Epidemiol 1992;136:574–583

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Tucker JM, Goldenberg RL, Davis RO, Copper RL, Winkler CL Hauth JC. Etiologies of preterm birth in an indigent population: is prevention a logical expectation? Obstet Gynecol 1991;77:343–347

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Harris BA Jr, Gore H, Flowers CE Jr. Peripheral placental separation: a possible relationship to premature labor. Obstet Gynecol 1985;66:774–778

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Arias F, Rodriquez L, Rayne SC, Kraus FT. Maternal placental vasculopathy and infection: two distinct subgroups among patients with preterm labor and preterm ruptured membranes. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1993;168:585–591

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Germain AM, Carvajal J, Sanchez M, Valenzuela GJ, Tsunekawa H, Chuaqui B. Preterm labor: placental pathology and clinical correlation. Obstet Gynecol 1999;94:284–289

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Salafia CM, Minior VK, Pezzullo JC, Popek EJ, Rosenkrantz TS, Vintzileos AM. Intrauterine growth restriction in infants of less than thirty-two weeks’ gestation: associated placental pathologic features. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1995;173:1049–1057

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Salafia CM, Vogel CA, Bantham KF, Vintzileos AM, Pezzullo J, Silberman L. Preterm delivery: correlations of fetal growth and placental pathology. Am J Perinatol 1992;9:190–193

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Brosens JJ, Pijnenborg R, Brosens IA. The myometrial junctional zone spiral arteries in normal and abnormal pregnancies: a review of the literature. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2002;187:1416–1423

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Brosens I, Robertson WB, Dixon HG. The physiological response of the vessels of the placental bed to normal pregnancy. J Pathol Bacteriol 1967;93:569–579

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Starzyk KA, Salafia CM, Pezzullo JC, Lage JM, Parkash V, Vercruysse L, Hanssens M, Pijnenborg R. Quantitative differences in arterial morphometry define the placental bed in preeclampsia. Hum Pathol 1997;28:353–358

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wootton DM, Ku DN.Fluid mechanics of vascular systems, diseases, and thrombosis. Annu Rev Biomed Eng 1999;1:299–329

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Mulders LG, Jongsma HW, Wijn PF, Hein PR. The uterine artery blood flow velocity waveform: reproducibility and results in normal pregnancy. Early Hum Dev 1988;17:55–70

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kofinas AD, Espeland MA, Penry M, Swain M, Hatjis CG. Uteroplacental Doppler flow velocity waveform indices in normal pregnancy: a statistical exercise and the development of appropriate reference values. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 1996;7:114–121

    Google Scholar 

  14. Coppens M, Loquet P, Kollen M, De Neubourg F, Buytaert P. Longitudinal evaluation of uteroplacental and umbilical blood flow changes in normal early pregnancy. Am J Perinatol 1992;9:94–101

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ramsey EM, Harris JWS. Comparison of uteroplacental vasculature and circulation in the rhesus monkey and man. Carnegie Contrib Embryol 1966;38:59–70.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Pijnenborg R, Dixon G, Robertson WB, Brosens I. Trophoblastic invasion of human decidua from 8 to 18 weeks of pregnancy. Placenta 1980;1:3–19

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by grants RR00046 and RR00046 from the General Clinical Research Centers Program of the Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health; grant 1 K23 MH067857-01 from the Mid Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Mental Health (C.M.S.); and by a grant from the Dische-Hime Fund for Placental Research (E.M.M.). We also gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Alessandro Ghidini, MD, whose review of the manuscript substantively improved it.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carolyn M. Salafia.

Additional information

This work was presented in part at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation; Washington, DC; March 28–30 2003.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Salafia, C.M., Pezzullo, J.C., Charles, A.K. et al. Morphometry of the Basal Plate Superficial Uteroplacental Vasculature in Normal Midtrimester and at Term. Pediatr Dev Pathol 8, 639–646 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10024-005-0409-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10024-005-0409-9

Keywords

Navigation