The mechanisms underlying cellular injury when human placental trophoblasts are exposed to hypoxia are unclear. Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) mediates cell injury and fibrosis in diverse tissues. We hypothesized that hypoxia enhances the production of CTGF in primary term human trophoblasts. Using cultured term primary human trophoblasts as well as villous biopsies from term human plac...

Brucellae replicate in a vacuole derived from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in epithelial cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. In animals, trophoblasts are also key cellular targets where brucellae efficiently replicate in association with the ER. Therefore, we investigated the ability of Brucella spp. to infect human trophoblasts using both immortalized and primary trophoblasts. Brucella ...

•Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia can arise during the first trimester originating from trophoblasts of concurrent pregnancy.•Intraplacental choriocarcinoma can be developed from trophoblasts of a previous pregnancy.

During human early pregnancy, fetus-derived trophoblasts come into direct contact with maternal immune cells at the maternofetal interface. At sites of placental attachment, invasive extravillous trophoblasts encounter decidual leukocytes (DLC) that accumulate within the decidua. Because we first found chemokine CXCL16 was highly expressed in and secreted by the first-trimester human trophoblas...

AIMS In early human pregnancy placental trophoblasts migrate along uterine spiral arteries (SAs) and remodel these vessels into wide-bore conduits in a process essential for successful pregnancy. Until 10-12 weeks gestation trophoblasts plug spiral arteries, resulting in slow, high-resistance blood flow. This work examined the consequences of these low shear stress conditions on trophoblast mig...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of rat trophoblast cell suspensions on adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelet aggregation. MATERIALS AND METHODS The trophoblasts were isolated from ectoplacental cones (a preplacental tissue very rich in trophoblasts) developed in rat embryos on day 12 of pregnancy (normal period of gestation: 22-23 days). Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) was obtained from a...

Mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is the leading cause of HIV infection in infants. Direct infection of trophoblasts--cells forming the placental barrier--may cause this transmission. Entry of HIV-1 into trophoblasts is unusual for this retrovirus, because it is associated with endocytosis. However, given that trophoblasts express no or few receptors/co...

Chorioamnionitis has been shown to be one of the most important factors in inducing preterm delivery. The present study was undertaken to examine the effects of chorioamnionitis on placental endocrine functions. Preterm placentas with histologic chorioamnionitis produced smaller amounts of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and human placental lactogen (hPL) than those without chorioamnionitis ...

YY1 is a sequence-specific DNA-binding transcription factor that has many important biological roles. However, its function in trophoblasts at the maternal-fetal interface remains to be elucidated. In this study, we used an mRNA microarray and reverse transcription qPCR and compared the YY1 mRNA expression level in trophoblasts between patients with recurrent miscarriage (RM) and healthy contro...

Nik-related kinase (Nrk) is a Ser/Thr kinase and was initially discovered as a molecule that was predominantly detected in skeletal muscles during development. A recent study using Nrk-null mice suggested the importance of Nrk in proper placental development; however, the molecular mechanism remains unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that differentiated trophoblasts from murine embryonic s...