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Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Assessment of Maternal Vascular Remodeling During Pregnancy in the Mouse Uterus
Published on: December 5, 2015
Human umbilical cord and its vessels: a histomorphometric study in difference severity of hypertensive disorders of
Santhi Chillakuru1, Subhadra Devi Velichety2, Vijayaraghavan Rajagopalan3
1Department of Anatomy, Narayana Medical College, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh and Research Scholar, Saveetha University, Chennai, India.
The umbilical cord (UC) is a platform for fetal nourishment and growth. The fetus, mother and placenta with UC form a triad, which contributes to pregnancy outcome. When pregnancy is complicated by a medical condition like hypertension, affects both maternal and fetal health. Being a fetal structure it can be used as a window to know the maternal dysfunctions and their impacts on fetal wellbeing. The present study is to explore the histomorphometric changes of the UC and its vessels involved in the development of hypertension during pregnancy. Sixty UCs were used and the following parameters, total UC area; total vessel area; jelly area; wall area, luminal area and wall thickness of umbilical arteries 1 and 2 and vein were studied using ImageJ software. From the results, the mean differences of above parameters of hypertensive UCs were found to be lesser than control and it was significantly higher in cases of severe preeclampsia (P≤0.05). From the present study, we conclude hypertensive cords and its vessels are associated with significant structural changes. Since it is a global health issue it is important to know the factors contributing it to diagnose and prevent.
The umbilical cord (UC) is a platform for fetal nourishment and growth. The fetus, mother and placenta with UC form a triad, which contributes to pregnancy outcome. When pregnancy is complicated by a medical condition like hypertension, affects both maternal and fetal health. Being a fetal structure it can be used as a window to know the maternal dysfunctions and their impacts on fetal wellbeing. The present study is to explore the histomorphometric changes of the UC and its vessels involved in the development of hypertension during pregnancy. Sixty UCs were used and the following parameters, total UC area; total vessel area; jelly area; wall area, luminal area and wall thickness of umbilical arteries 1 and 2 and vein were studied using ImageJ software. From the results, the mean differences of above parameters of hypertensive UCs were found to be lesser than control and it was significantly higher in cases of severe preeclampsia (P≤0.05). From the present study, we conclude hypertensive cords and its vessels are associated with significant structural changes. Since it is a global health issue it is important to know the factors contributing it to diagnose and prevent.
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