The efflux transporter, the breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), is most abundantly expressed in the apical membrane of the placental syncytiotrophoblasts, indicating that it could play an important role in protecting the fetus by limiting xenobiotic/drug penetration across the placental barrier. In the present study, we examined whether Bcrp1, the murine homolog of human BCRP, limits fetal...

Abstract Prenatal alloantigen exposure during embryonic development permanently tolerizes the early gestational fetus and provides a tremendous advantage over transplantation after birth. However, influence of prenatally educated NK cells on alloantigen-specific T cell immune responses is not well elucidated. In previous experiments, we found that prenatally-educated friendly (fNK) exert suppre...

Metronidazole is used to treat trichomoniasis, bacterial vaginosis, and other diseases. There are controversy aspects about its teratogenicity. A teratogenic agent can alter morphology or subsequent function of the fetus. The aim of this study was to examine an alternative method for the recognition of the mechanism or the bimolecular potential changes in mice fetus caused by Metronidazole usin...

Glycosaminoglycan storage begins in prenatal life in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS). In fact, prenatal hydrops is a common manifestation of MPS VII because of beta-glucuronidase (GUS) deficiency. One way to address prenatal storage might be to deliver the missing enzyme across the placenta into the fetal circulation. Maternal IgG is transported across the placenta by the neonatal Fc ...

Pregnancy is a transient immuno-compromised condition which has evolved to avoid the immune rejection of the fetus by the maternal immune system. The altered immune response of the pregnant female leads to increased susceptibility to invading pathogens, resulting in abortion and congenital defects of the fetus and a subnormal response to vaccination. Active vaccination during pregnancy may lead...

The developmental competence of in vitro cultured embryos vitrified-warmed at an early cleavage stage (2- or 4, 8-cell stage) was examined by both direct transfer into recipient animals and after in vitro manipulation for chimeric mice production using embryonic stem (ES) cells. Vitrified-warmed embryos transferred at the morulae and blastocyst stages showed fetus development comparable to cont...

Protecting the fetus and placenta from the maternal immune system has long been considered a function of placental trophoblasts. Here, we present two related lines of evidence that contradict this assumption. First, we show that transformed mouse trophoblast cell lines akin to human choriocarcinomas form tumors in syngeneic and immunodeficient mice, yet are rejected in immunocompetent allogenei...