Abstract:

Embryonic development, the generation of a living organism from a fertilized egg, poses some of the most intriguing challenges of biological research. Aberrations in development can arise from genetic alterations in the fetus, which can vary in the degree of penetration, and can also result from direct and indirect pathological processes affecting the fetus or the mother. Impaired fetal development is a major cause of premature morbidity and mortality. Dynamic imaging of the live fetus provides an important tool for elucidating the normal and pathological developmental changes occurring during pregnancy. In particular, as part of efforts for functional mapping of the genome using genetically modified animals, detailed analysis of fetal development in laboratory animals is central in elucidating the function of genes and the impact of alteration in gene expression. Moreover, imaging biomarkers developed in the context of basic biological research could provide the foundations for future prenatal clinical imaging. In this chapter, we will review recent developments in the use of noninvasive imaging for longitudinal monitoring of live embryos in small laboratory animals, with particular focus on in utero imaging of fetal development in the mouse.