BACKGROUND Methadone is the therapeutic agent of choice for the treatment of opiate addiction in pregnancy. The co-consumption (heroin, cocaine) which may influence the effects of methadone is frequent. Therefore, the impact of cocaine and heroin on the placental transfer of methadone and the placental tissue was investigated under in vitro conditions. METHODS Placentae (n = 24) were ex-vivo ...

Placental syncytiotrophoblasts are known to express the efflux transporter proteins P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) and multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 (ABCC2), which are supposed to be a functional part of the human placental barrier. With advancing gestational age, expression of ABCB1 decreases progressively, whereas ABCC2 is more expressed. To evaluate to which extent they contribute to pla...

We used Hoxa3 knockout mice and other mouse models to study the role of the fetal parathyroids in fetal calcium homeostasis. Hoxa3-null fetuses lack parathyroid glands, and absence of parathyroid hormone (PTH) was confirmed with a rodent PTH immunoradiometric assay. The ionized calcium level of Hoxa3-null fetuses was significantly lower than that of wild-type or heterozygous littermates or of t...

Many studies have documented that placental development is altered by a variety of environmental factors which alter placental bed blood flow and/or oxygen delivery. One of these is sustained weight-bearing exercise. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of running throughout pregnancy on villous vascular development and cell proliferation by testing the null hypothesis t...

BACKGROUND Maternal perception of reduced fetal movement (RFM) is associated with increased risk of stillbirth and fetal growth restriction (FGR). DFM is thought to represent fetal compensation to conserve energy due to insufficient oxygen and nutrient transfer resulting from placental insufficiency. To date there have been no studies of placental structure in cases of DFM. OBJECTIVE To deter...

OBJECTIVE The transfer of anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drugs has been studied in the ex vivo human placental model. There is a paucity of information on the placental transfer of these drugs because of ethical considerations and the expense involved in the use of the non-human primate model. METHODS The standardized ex vivo human placental model was used in these studies and the cl...

Both maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations during pregnancy and placental amino acid transporter gene expression have been associated with development of the offspring in terms of body composition and bone structure. Several amino acid transporter genes have vitamin D response elements in their promoters suggesting the possible linkage of these two mechanisms. We aimed to establ...

Maternal antibodies may protect the fetus and neonate against severe forms of CMV-caused disease, therefore this study investigated the efficiency of the placental transfer of naturally acquired, maternal total anti-cytomegalovirus (CMV) IgG and neutralizing antibodies at different gestational ages. The study was conducted on 182 healthy CMV-seropositive Brazilian mothers and their 196 infants ...

BACKGROUND The use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKis) during pregnancy in humans remains rare, and little data are available on their transplacental passage. Erlotinib and gefitinib are the first-line targeted therapy in case of stage IV nonsmall-cell lung cancer with an EGFR-activating mutation. There are no data available regarding the comparative use of these TKis in pregnant patients. We ...