Failure to transform uteroplacental spiral arteries is thought to underpin disorders of pregnancy, including preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction (FGR). In this study, spiral artery remodeling and extravillous-cytotrophoblast were examined in placental bed biopsies from normal pregnancy (n = 25), preeclampsia (n = 22), and severe FGR (n = 10) and then compared with clinical parameters. Bio...

Establishment of the human placenta is essential for subsequent development of the embryo. Previous studies from our laboratories have demonstrated that chorionic villus cytotrophoblast stem cells undergo a stepwise differentiation process in vivo that results in their ability to invade the uterine wall. This process can be mimicked by isolated primary first-trimester cytotrophoblasts in vitro....

A 36 year old white female was referred for chorionic villus sampling for advanced maternal age. Direct (cytotrophoblast) preparations of chorionic villi were 45,X, but cultured mesenchymal core cells from the same villi were 46,XX. Study of embryonic and extraembryonic tissues showed the aneuploidy to be limited to cytotrophoblasts from specific placental sites. In aggregate, the cytogenetic f...

Circulating levels of maternal erythropoietin (EPO) rise during gestation due to increased biosynthesis of the hormone. Our objective was to investigate the human placenta as a potential extrarenal site of EPO production. Using two monoclonal antibodies recognizing different antigenic determinants, we identified immunoreactive EPO associated with villous cytotrophoblast, endovascular and intrav...

Human fetal development depends on the embryo rapidly gaining access to the maternal circulation. The trophoblast cells that form the fetal portion of the human placenta have solved this problem by transiently exhibiting certain tumor-like properties. Thus, during early pregnancy fetal cytotrophoblast cells invade the uterus and its arterial network. This process peaks during the twelfth week o...

Monocarboxylate transporter 8 (MCT8) is a well-established thyroid hormone (TH) transporter. In humans, MCT8 mutations result in changes in circulating TH concentrations and X-linked severe global neurodevelopmental delay. MCT8 is expressed in the human placenta throughout gestation, with increased expression in trophoblast cells from growth-restricted pregnancies. We postulate that MCT8 plays ...

Several cytosolic sulfotransferase enzyme isoforms are functional in placenta but there is limited information available on the utility of cultured trophoblast cells for studying sulfation. The trophoblast cell layer constitutes the rate-determining barrier for trans-placental transfer. The objective of this work was to examine the mRNA expression and enzyme activities of four sulfotransferase ...

At the periphery of the human placenta, trophoblast attaches to the uterine wall. The tissue interface contains many anchoring sites, with cytotrophoblast columns that form bridges between the overlying extraembryonic (villous) mesenchyme and the maternal decidual stroma beneath. From the periphery of these columns, large numbers of trophoblast cells detach, migrate through the decidua and even...

Appropriate regulation of ion transport by the human placental syncytiotrophoblast is important for fetal growth throughout pregnancy. In nonplacental tissues, ion transport can be modulated by extracellular nucleotides that raise intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) via activation of purinergic receptors. We tested the hypothesis that purinergic receptors are expressed by human placental cytotropho...

Trophoblast biologists are often uncertain as to what cell types they are investigating because the mononuclear cell populations prepared from trypsinization of human first-trimester chorionic villi are morphologically very similar. In the present study, immunocytochemical and phagocytic markers have been used to distinguish cytotrophoblast populations from cell types derived from the mesenchym...