Trophoblast migration within the endometrium and uterine vasculature is essential for normal placental and fetal development. We previously demonstrated that macaque trophoblasts express the chemokine receptor CCR5 and that this receptor mediates trophoblast migration toward RANTES (regulated upon activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted). In the present paper we have used primary cultur...

The ligand-dependent nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) regulates the differentiation of several tissues and cell types. PPARgamma was recently determined to be essential for murine placental development and differentiation. We therefore assessed the influence of PPARgamma on differentiation of human placental trophoblasts. We initially used immunohist...

BACKGROUND Early placental and embryo development occur in a physiologically low oxygen environment, with a rise in oxygen tension within the placenta towards the end of the first trimester. Oxygen is implicated in the regulation of trophoblast differentiation and invasion. This study examined the effects of oxygen tension on extravillous trophoblast outgrowth and migration from normal pregnanc...

The serum amyloid A (SAA) protein is known to function in the acute phase response and immunoregulation. Recently, SAA has been shown to be involved in cell proliferation, differentiation and migratory behavior in different cell types. Here, we evaluated whether exogenous SAA could influence trophoblast invasion and differentiation using both the trophoblast-like BeWo cell line and fully differ...

CNN3 is an ubiquitously expressed F-actin binding protein, shown to regulate trophoblast fusion and hence seems to play a role in the placentation process. In this study we demonstrate that CNN3 levels are upregulated under low oxygen conditions in the trophoblast cell line BeWo. Since hypoxia is discussed to be a pro-migratory stimulus for placental cells, we examined if CNN3 is involved in tr...

During implantation the embryo attaches to the endometrial surface and trophoblast traverses the uterine epithelium, anchoring in the uterine connective tissue. To determine whether trophoblast can facilitate invasion of the uterus by degrading components of normal uterine extracellular matrix, mouse blastocysts were cultured on a radio-labeled extracellular matrix that contained glycoproteins,...

Invasion of the trophoblast into the maternal decidua is regulated by both the trophoectoderm and the endometrial stroma, and entails the action of tissue remodeling enzymes. Trophoblast invasion requires the action of metalloproteinases (MMPs) to degrade extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and in turn, decidual cells express tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs). The balance between these promotin...

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are key regulatory molecules that are involved in a variety of biological processes and human diseases. Their impact on early onset preeclampsia remains unclear. In this study, we tested the expression of RPAIN (transcript variant 12 of RPA interacting protein, a non-coding RNA, NR_027683.1) in placenta tissues derived from 25 pregnant women with PE and 15 healthy...

Development of the human placenta and its different epithelial trophoblasts is crucial for a successful pregnancy. Besides fusing into a multinuclear syncytium, the exchange surface between mother and fetus, progenitors develop into extravillous trophoblasts invading the maternal uterus and its spiral arteries. Migration into these vessels promotes remodelling and, as a consequence, adaption of...

Heterologous antisera were raised by inoculation of rabbits with fairly pure suspensions of trophoblast, lymphoid, fetal (excluding placental components), epidermal, decidual, and renal cells from Fischer rats. After absorption of hemagglutinins, these antisera were assayed for abortifacient activity by intramuscular inoculation into time-mated Fischer females. The anti-trophoblast serum aborte...