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The 4-vessel Sampling Approach to Integrative Studies of Human Placental Physiology In Vivo
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Blood flow and transport in the human placenta

Oliver E Jensen1, Igor L Chernyavsky1,2

  • 1School of Mathematics, University of Manchester, UK.

Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics
|February 27, 2024
PubMed

The placenta is a multi-functional organ that exchanges blood gases and nutrients between a mother and her developing fetus. In humans, fetal blood flows through intricate networks of vessels confined within villous trees, the branches of which are bathed in pools of maternal blood. Fluid mechanics and transport processes play a central role in understanding how these elaborate structures contribute to the function of the placenta, and how their disorganization may lead to disease. Recent advances in imaging and computation have spurred significant advances in simulations of fetal and maternal flows within the placenta, across a range of lengthscales. Models describe jets of maternal blood emerging from spiral arteries into a disordered and deformable porous medium, and solute uptake by fetal blood flowing through elaborate three-dimensional capillary networks. We survey recent developments and emerging challenges in modeling flow and transport in this complex organ.

Keywords:
blood flowmultiscale modelingplacentaporous mediavascular networks

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