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Updated: Jun 11, 2026
Assessment of Maternal Vascular Remodeling During Pregnancy in the Mouse Uterus
Published on: December 5, 2015
Maternal cerebral blood flow during normal pregnancy: a cross-sectional study
Ori Nevo1, Jean F Soustiel, Israel Thaler
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, 60 Grosvenor Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ori.nevo@sunnybrook.ca
Objective:
Pregnancy is associated with substantial changes in the maternal circulatory physiology. Our aim was to investigate maternal cerebral blood flow (CBF) during normal pregnancies.
Study Design:
We prospectively measured maternal CBF in 210 low-risk pregnant women at different gestational ages, and in 15 nonpregnant women. CBF was assessed by measuring blood flow volume in the internal carotid artery (ICA) by dual-beam angle-independent digital Doppler ultrasound.
Results:
ICA blood flow volume increased during pregnancy from 318 mL/min ± 40.6 mL/min in the first trimester to 382.1 mL/min ± 50.0 mL/min during the third trimester, corresponding to CBF values of 44.4 and 51.8 mL/min(-1)/100 g(-1), respectively (P < .0001). CBF changes were associated with progressive decrease in cerebral vascular resistance and moderate increase in ICA diameter.
Conclusion:
Maternal CBF is gradually increasing during normal pregnancy. Vasorelaxing impact of estrogens and other factors on cerebral vessels may explain the changes in CBF during pregnancy.
