Fetal growth restriction and brain connectivity: Can lactoferrin restore the deficits?

Ingrid published a new technical optical imaging and analysis protocol for the quantification of neuronal morphology. This has already been used by investigators globally, and here, it was used to characterise brain microstructure during the last third of gestation. This provided a platform to measure the deficits in brain connectivity, in pregnancies complicated by a common, but serious, condition termed fetal growth restriction. Unprecedented data has been shown whereby, there is an altered growth trajectory of neurons. This provided the framework to test a new and exciting novel neuroprotective therapy, called lactoferrin, which has shown promising translational evidence to protect the developing fetal brain.