Sylvie Girard1, Luc Tremblay2,
Guillaume Sebire1, Martin Lepage2
1Pediatric, Universite de Sherbrooke,
Sherbrooke, Qc, Canada; 2Radiobiology, Universite de Sherbrooke,
Sherbrooke, Qc, Canada
Perinatal
inflammation predominantly affects preterm newborns leading to brain damage.
Interleukin-1 (pro-inflammatory molecule) appears to be a key mediator
linking maternal inflammation and fetal brain damage. Strategies to protect
the fetal brain are currently unavailable mainly due to the lack of
non-invasive tools to detect in utero inflammation and monitor the impact of
an anti-inflammatory treatment. We
showed that MRI is a potent technique to detect placental damage and can be
used to monitor the impact of anti-inflammatory treatment in an animal model
of prenatal inflammation.