Fig. 1.

Micro-CT imaging of a human placenta perfused with Microfil. Surface renderings made using VG StudioMAX 2.2 (Volume Graphics, Germany) were thresholded halfway between the grey scale intensities of tissue and Microfil. A and B; the whole placenta, imaged with an isotropic voxel size of 116.5 μm. C; a slice through the whole placenta, showing the geometric arrangement of chorionic and villous vessels. D and E; two blocks imaged with an isotropic voxel size of 13.5 μm. The complex vascular tree is clearly seen, with whole imaging showing chorionic and stem vessels, and block imaging showing the villous vascular tree down to the terminal capillaries.