{"doi":"10.1016/j.placenta.2023.11.002","title":"Non-invasive mapping of human placenta microenvironments throughout pregnancy with diffusion-relaxation MRI","abstract":"INTRODUCTION: In-vivo measurements of placental structure and function have the potential to improve prediction, diagnosis, and treatment planning for a wide range of pregnancy complications, such as fetal growth restriction and pre-eclampsia, and hence inform clinical decision making, ultimately improving patient outcomes. MRI is emerging as a technique with increased sensitivity to placental structure and function compared to the current clinical standard, ultrasound. METHODS: We demonstrate and evaluate a combined diffusion-relaxation MRI acquisition and analysis pipeline on a sizable cohort of 78 normal pregnancies with gestational ages ranging from 15 + 5 to 38 + 4 weeks. Our acquisition comprises a combined T2*-diffusion MRI acquisition sequence - which is simultaneously sensitive to oxygenation, microstructure and microcirculation. We analyse our scans with a data-driven unsupervised machine learning technique, InSpect, that parsimoniously identifies distinct components in the data. RESULTS: We identify and map seven potential placental microenvironments and reveal detailed insights into multiple microstructural and microcirculatory features of the placenta, and assess their trends across gestation. DISCUSSION: By demonstrating direct observation of micro-scale placental structure and function, and revealing clear trends across pregnancy, our work contributes towards the development of robust imaging biomarkers for pregnancy complications and the ultimate goal of a normative model of placental development.","journal":"Placenta","year":2023,"id":354393,"datarank":0.31191623125197543,"base_score":2.0794415416798357,"endowment":2.0794415416798357,"self_citation_contribution":0.31191623125197543,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.31191623125197543,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":7,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9591,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1076574,"name":"Daniel Cromb","orcid":"0000-0002-9814-8841","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":360902,"name":"Laurence H. Jackson","orcid":"0000-0002-5904-8012","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":360899,"name":"Alison Ho","orcid":"0000-0003-3293-4476","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1076576,"name":"Serena J. Counsell","orcid":"0000-0002-8033-5673","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":360905,"name":"Lisa Story","orcid":"0000-0001-9328-9592","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":89779,"name":"Lucy C. Chappell","orcid":"0000-0001-6219-3379","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":360906,"name":"Mary Rutherford","orcid":"0000-0003-3361-1337","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":250913,"name":"Joseph V. Hajnal","orcid":"0000-0002-2690-5495","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":360900,"name":"Jana Hutter","orcid":"0000-0003-3476-3500","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":244799,"name":"Daniel C. Alexander","orcid":"0000-0003-2439-350X","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":360901,"name":"Paddy J. Slator","orcid":"0000-0001-6967-989X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":50,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:13:06.959762Z","pmid":"37952367","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}