Ultrasound bioeffects in rats: quantification of cellular damage in the fetal liver after pulsed Doppler imaging

Objective To determine whether pulsed Doppler examination of the ductus venosus in rat fetuses could damage exposed tissue. Methods On gestational day 18, the livers of a mean of approximately five fetuses per mother (n = 5.14, SD = 1.6), in a cohort of 35 pregnant female rats, were exposed individually to pulsed Doppler and these were considered the 'exposed group'. The remaining fetuses in each pregnant rat (n = 5.16, SD = 2.1) formed the 'control group'. We tested for 600, 300, 60, 20, 15, 10 and 3 s of exposure of the fetal ductus venosus and the damage was evaluated measuring a cell death index of apoptotic activity at 7 h post-exposure (n = 16). In addition, subgroups of mothers were …

OP15.08: Intrauterine fetal brain damage in preeclamptic animal model: hemodynamic and histologic changes