Transport of nutrients and waste between the maternal and fetal circulations during pregnancy takes place at the final branches of the placental villous trees. Therefore, and unsurprisingly, pregnancy complications have been related to the maldevelopment of terminal villi. However, a deep analysis of placental villous morphology has been limited by tissue processing and imaging techniques. In this proof-of-principle study, placental lobules were fixed by perfusion and small clumps of villi were stained, sectioned optically and reconstructed. Morphological and network analyses were suggested and demonstrated on samples of normal placentas. The results show that most parameters are almost constant within a placenta but that there exists an inter-individual variation. Network analysis suggests that the feto-placental capillary network has several paths within an individual villus, serving as an efficient transport system. Three-dimensional reconstruction from confocal laser scanning microscopy images is a potent technique able to quantify placental architecture and capture the significant irregularities in vessel diameter and membrane thickness. This approach has the potential to become a powerful tool to further our understanding of the differences in placental structure which may underlie pregnancy complications.

中文翻译：

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胎盘末端绒毛的三维形态分析。

怀孕期间母体和胎儿循环之间营养物质和废物的运输​​发生在胎盘绒毛树的最后分支。因此，毫不奇怪，妊娠并发症与末期绒毛的发育不良有关。然而，对胎盘绒毛形态的深入分析受到组织处理和成像技术的限制。在这项原理验证研究中，通过灌注固定胎盘小叶，并对小块绒毛染色，光学切片并重建。建议并在正常胎盘样本上进行形态学和网络分析。结果表明，大多数参数在胎盘内几乎恒定，但存在个体间差异。网络分析表明，胎儿胎盘毛细血管网络在单个绒毛内有数条路径，可作为有效的转运系统。共聚焦激光扫描显微镜图像的三维重建是一种有效的技术，能够量化胎盘结构并捕获血管直径和膜厚度的明显不规则性。这种方法有可能成为进一步了解胎盘结构差异（可能是妊娠并发症的基础）的有力工具。