Premature babies often have inadequate oxygen delivery to the brain, contributing to high disability rates. This project proposed that structural immaturity of the capillaries (tiny blood vessels) underlies this inadequacy. Prof Colditz and his team aimed to identify treatment targets to effectively manage blood volume and reduce the incidence of death and disabilities. 

Prof Colditz has previously shown that premature babies have leaky capillaries, leading to low blood volume and low oxygen delivered to the brain after birth. Currently, no interventions improve long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes for premature babies with deteriorating cardiovascular function. This structural study will identify potential therapies to maintain or expand blood volume to protect the developing brain. Implementing an effective protocol will drastically reduce the financial burden on hospitals, families and schools and reduce the long-term burden of impaired brain development. The potential social, economic and health benefits of preventing lifelong disability are substantial.

In a world first, the team was able to visualise the ultrastructure of these smallest vessels using electron microscopy. The resulting images are now being used to create a 3D model for further studies. The team discovered that premature capillaries do not have the suspected ‘openings’ that would allow the leakiness. However, they observed the vital role of the lymphatic system in blood volume maintenance. The obtained microscopy images also contain lymphatic vessels, giving the team the extraordinary opportunity to extend this study to a novel area since there is no research on premature babies’ lymphatic systems.