Figure 1

Lung morphology and percentage tissue fraction of the lung for control and embolised fetuses. Light micrographs stained with haematoxylin (purple: nuclei) and eosin (pink: cytoplasm) depicting lung morphology in control (A), 1d PPE + 15d (B), and 5d PPE +16d (C) lung tissue. Evidence of inflammatory cells and lung damage were only apparent in one fetus (D, E) which formed part of a pilot study and received significantly more microspheres than PPE fetuses. In that fetus, neutrophils (D, arrow), monocytes (E, thick arrows) and extravasation of erythrocytes (E, pointed arrowhead) could be seen. The scale bar in (C) represents 10 μm in all five images. The percentage tissue fraction of the lung (F) was greater in 1d PPE + 15d than in control fetuses (* p < 0.001) and greater in 5d PPE + 16d fetuses than in 1d PPE + 15d or control fetuses (** p < 0.001).