Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a fetal condition that affects up to 10% of all pregnancies and is associated with cardiovascular structural and functional remodelling that persists postnatally. Some studies have reported an increase in myocardial coronary blood flow
in severe IUGR fetuses which has been directly associated to the dilatation of the coronary
arteries. However, a direct measurement of the coronaries’ lumen diameter in IUGR has not
been reported before. The aim of this paper is to perform, for the first time, a quantitative
analysis of the effects of IUGR in cardiac geometry and coronary vessel size in a wellknown rabbit model of IUGR using synchrotron-based X-ray Phase Contrast Tomography
Imaging (X-PCI). Eight rabbit fetal hearts were imaged non-destructively with X-PCI. 3D
reconstructions of the coronary arterial tree were obtained after semi-automatic image segmentation. Different morphometric features including vessel lumen diameter of the three
main coronaries were automatically quantified. IUGR fetuses had more globular hearts and
dilated coronary arteries as compared to controls. We have quantitatively shown that IUGR
leads to structural coronary vascular tree remodelling and enlargement as an adaptation
mechanism in response to an adverse environment of restricted oxygen and nutrients and
increased perfusion pressure