Fig. 3.

Maternal and fetal placental vascular indices at 131 days gestation. Placental vascular indices determined separately in maternal caruncle (CAR) and fetal cotyledon (COT) following image analysis of immunostained sections of whole placentomes sampled from adolescent sheep dams at 131 ± 0.3 days gestation who received a control intake (Control group, n = 12) or a high intake (overnourished, n = 27) of the same complete diet to induce normal fetoplacental growth or placental and fetal growth restriction (FGR), respectively. Overnourished pregnancies were further subdivided into those subsequently defined as FGR, (fetal weight >2SD below Control group mean, n = 17) or less perturbed with relatively “normal” fetal weight (Non-FGR, n = 10). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. * indicates p < 0.05 for individual post-hoc comparisons (using test of least significant difference) following one-way analysis of variances. Abbreviations: CAD = capillary area density; CND = capillary number density; CSD = capillary surface density; APC = area per capillary [see Methods for calculations].