# VEGF Gene Delivery In The Primate To Prevent Defective Spiral Artery Remodeling And Maternal Vascular Dysfunction > **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · 2024 · $678,785 ## Abstract PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT During early human pregnancy, placental extravillous trophoblasts invade and remodel the uterine spiral arteries into distensible low-resistance vessels to promote placental perfusion and thus fetal development. A defect in uterine spiral artery remodeling (SAR) is the primum movens step that underpins adverse human pregnancy, particularly preeclampsia, which leads to systemic vascular dysfunction in and increased morbidity and mortality of the mother and offspring. However, there are no experimental primate models of defective SAR, noninvasive methods to detect the defect in SAR in early pregnancy or therapeutic modalities to prevent the maternal and offspring vascular dysfunction. We established a model of impaired SAR by slightly elevating estradiol in the first trimester of baboon pregnancy. This model is characterized by a decrease in extravillous trophoblast vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, increase in placental expression and maternal serum levels of the soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 receptor (sFlt-1) that suppresses VEGF bioavailability, maternal (published) and offspring (preliminary) vascular dysfunction, reduced fetal growth and increased incidence of perinatal demise. We also employed B- flow/spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) M-mode ultrasonography to detect SAR impairment in early pregnancy. Importantly, ultrasound- mediated/microbubble-facilitated gene delivery (UMGD) of VEGF to the placental basal plate of estradiol- treated baboons early in pregnancy abolished the defect in SAR. However, it has not been established whether reversing the defect in SAR by UMGD of VEGF will prevent maternal and offspring vascular dysfunction. The foundation built upon this primate model during the recent R01 HD 93070 project period, provides a highly unique opportunity to test the novel hypothesis that VEGF gene delivery to restore SAR will prevent vascular dysfunction in the mother, fetus and offspring. Baboons will be untreated, treated with estradiol to suppress SAR or treated with estradiol and UMGD of VEGF to reverse SAR impairment. Normal and defective SAR will be determined by B-flow/STIC M-mode ultrasonography in the first trimester. Vascular function will be quantified in the mothers and fetuses at midgestation and near term and the offspring at 0.5, 1 and 4 years after birth. Systemic microvessel endothelial function will be ascertained by quantifying microvessel endothelial cell-specific nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and VEGF mRNAs by RT-PCR and protein levels by proximity ligation assay and capillary density by image analysis. Microvessel endothelial function will be assessed in mothers and offspring by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation and microvessel flow by contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEU) before and after hyperemia induced shear-stress and acetylcholine with/without L-name administration. This study will be highly significant in establishing ... ## Key facts - **NIH application ID:** 10803899 - **Project number:** 2R01HD093070-06A1 - **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE - **Principal Investigator:** Eugene D. Albrecht - **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.) - **Funding institute:** NIH - **Fiscal year:** 2024 - **Award amount:** $678,785 - **Award type:** 2 - **Project period:** 2017-09-08 → 2029-03-31 ## Primary source NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10803899 ## Citation > US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10803899, VEGF Gene Delivery In The Primate To Prevent Defective Spiral Artery Remodeling And Maternal Vascular Dysfunction (2R01HD093070-06A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10803899. Licensed CC0. --- *[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*