Preeclampsia is a leading cause of maternal and fetal mortality, affecting up to 8% of pregnancies. Clinically, preeclampsia is diagnosed by the new onset of maternal hypertension and proteinuria presenting in the second half of gestation. The etiology of this disease, however, occurs during early development with abnormal vascular remodeling that results in reduced placental perfusion and hypoxia. This abnormal placental function increases the production of soluble antiangiogenic factors which are then released into maternal circulation, creating the systemic endothelial dysfunction associated with maternal symptoms. Despite being a critical indicator of disease progression and therapeutic response, placental function cannot be fully characterized by existing imaging modalities. The objective of this work was to develop multimodal imaging and image processing tools characterize placental function in the reduced uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) rat model of preeclampsia. We demonstrate spectral photoacoustic (sPA) imaging and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging of the longitudinal changes in placental oxygenation, perfusion, and vascular growth in the development of preeclampsia and evaluate the placental response to therapeutic intervention.
