During pregnancy, mother's well-being affects directly the newborn development. Some maternal and placental complications, such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia (PE), preterm delivery and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), may contribute to fetal growth deviations or fetal development modifications. Usually the newborn weight correlates positively with placenta weight, showing the int...

In the idiopathic intrauterine growth restriction where there are no clear maternal or fetal causes, the placenta may hold the key to its etiology. So, this study was undertaken to look for any placental and umbilical cord abnormality and to establish the relationship of fetal birth weight with placental measurements. In this study, 100 freshly delivered placentae were collected. The placenta a...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between placenta-mediated pregnancy complications and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very preterm infants. METHODS National prospective population-based cohort study including 2697 singletons born before 32 weeks' gestation. The main outcome measure was moderate to severe BPD. Three groups of placenta-mediated pregnancy complications were compare...

Placenta is the highly specialized organ of pregnancy, in association with the fetal membranes and amniotic fluids; placenta supports normal fetal growth and development. Primary function of the placenta in all species is to selective transfer of nutrients and waste products between mother and fetus. It participates in the transfer and metabolism of carbohydrates, amino acids, lipids, water, in...

Fetal exposure to xenobiotics can be restricted by transporters at the interface between maternal and fetal circulation. Previous work identified transporters in the placenta; however, less is known about the presence of these transporters in the fetal membranes (i.e., yolk sac and amniotic membranes). The purpose of this study was to quantify mRNA and protein expression of xenobiotic transport...

The placenta serves as the fetus' organ of gas exchange throughout intra-uterine life. While the dependence of fetal well-being on an intact maternal-placental unit has been recognized for centuries, it is only in the last several decades that research with fetal animals has begun to unravel the mechanisms by which it regulates blood supply and oxygen, as well as its role in the maternal-to-fet...

The placenta is the principal metabolic, respiratory, excretory, and endocrine organ for the first 9 months of fetal life. Its role in fetal and maternal physiology is remarkably diverse. Because of the central role that the placenta has in fetal and maternal physiology and development, the possibility that variation in placental gene expression patterns might be linked to important abnormaliti...

Fetal liver immaturity is accompanied by active heme catabolism. Thus fetal biliary pigments must be excreted toward the mother by the placenta. To investigate biliverdin handling by the placenta-maternal liver tandem, biliverdin-IXalpha was administered to 21-day pregnant rats through the jugular vein or the umbilical artery of an in situ perfused placenta. Jugular administration resulted in t...

Placenta and yolk sac from 8- to 17-day-old (E8-E17) mouse embryos/fetuses were investigated for the presence of in vitro clonogenic progenitors. At E8-E9, the embryonic body from the umbilicus caudalwards was also analysed. Fetal liver was analysed beginning on E10. At E8, between five and nine somite pairs (sp), placenta, yolk sac and embryonic body yielded no progenitors. The first progenito...