Diagnosis and perinatal therapies in an animal model of intrauterine growth restriction

Abstract

This Ph.D. Thesis is structured on two projects aiming to improve the intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) perinatal survival and brain development with new more accurate tools for continuous fetal monitoring and new prenatal therapies. The first project aims to test new implantable miniaturized pH and oxygen electrochemical sensors to be applicable in IUGR fetus. For this purpose, different animal models and species have been used. Data obtained from this project resulted in four articles published in international peer-reviewed journals. The second project aims to describe the structural brain and placental changes underlying IUGR and select and test potential effective strategies acting upon these specific targets in order to overcome IUGR effects and placental changes. This project have resulted in two articles, one of them has been published and the other one has been submitted, both in an international peer- reviewed journals. The articles of each project are the following:

PROJECT 1:

1. Micro-needle implantable electrochemical oxygen sensor: ex-vivo and in-vivo studies 2020, Biosensors and Bioelectronics

2. In vivo Monitoring with micro-implantable hypoxia sensor based on tissue acidosis 2020, Talanta

3. Non-invasive monitoring of pH and oxygen using miniaturized electrochemical sensors in an animal model of acute hypoxia 2021, Journal of Translational Medicine

4. Miniaturized electrochemical sensors to monitor fetal hypoxia and acidosis in a pregnant sheep model

2021, Biomedicines

PROJECT 2:

5. Structural Brain Changes during the Neonatal Period in a Rabbit Model of Intrauterine Growth Restriction 2021, Developmental neuroscience

6. Docosahexaenoic acid and lactoferrin effects on the brain and placenta in a rabbit model of intrauterine growth restriction 2021, Developmental neuroscience. Submitted.

The presentation of the Thesis is structured with a general introduction followed by the hypothesis and objectives. After that, the articles that take part of each project are inserted entirely. Following the articles, it will be a brief summary of the global results and subsequently a general discussion and conclusions will be exposed.