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The metabolic activity of amniochorion contributes to the control of activation of labor-type uterine contractions. The study presents an experimental model of transport of calcium ions across the human amniochorion sampled directly after cesarean section in patients delivering both at term and prematurely. Transmembrane transport of calcium ions was lower in preterm vs. term tissue samples. The differences...
The multinucleated syncytiotrophoblast (STB) is maintained and regenerated by the fusion of underlying cytotrophoblast cells (CTBs) and is responsible for a number of functions in the human placenta. Deficiencies in this structure may result in pregnancy-associated diseases. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying trophoblast syncytialization await further investigation.The location of the transcription...
TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor-2 (TRAIL-R2) is produced both by decidual and trophoblast cells during pregnancy and known to participate in apoptosis. In this study, we aimed to determine and to compare maternal serum and placental TRAIL-R2 levels in patients with placenta accreta, non-adherent placenta previa and in healthy pregnancies. We also aimed to analyze the association of...
To investigate a simple visual assessment method of placental function using half-Fourier acquisition single-shot turbo spin-echo (HASTE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).The institutional review board approved this retrospective study of fetal MRI in 48 singleton pregnant women for whom placentas had undergone clinical pathological examinations. Two readers independently assessed the placentas using...
Obesity during pregnancy can cause serious complications for maternal and infant health. While this has often been attributed to increased inflammation during obese pregnancy, human and animal studies exhibit variable results with respect to the inflammatory status of the mother, placenta and fetus. Cafeteria (CAF) feeding induces more inflammation than standard high-fat feeding in non-pregnant animal...
Maternal magnesium (Mg) deficiency has been associated with fetal growth restriction. Using a mouse model of maternal Mg deficiency-induced fetal growth restriction, we sought to investigate the effect of Mg deficiency on placental physiology and function.In vivo: Pregnant Swiss Webster mice were fed either 100% of the recommended amount of Mg (control) or 10%Mg (Mg-deficient) (8 per group). Dams...
The syncytiotrophoblast, a key barrier between the mother and fetus, is a polarized epithelium composed of a microvillus and basal membrane (BM). We sought to characterize BM proteins of BeWo cells in relation to hypoxia and to investigate their expression in placentas from pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction (FGR).We isolated the BM fraction of BeWo cells by the cationic colloidal...
The objective of the present study is to investigate the mechanism of perfluorooctane sulfonate-induced low body weight of fetus by analysis of glucocorticoid metabolizing enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 and gene expression profiling of the placenta after in utero PFOS exposure.Pregnant Sprague–Dawley dams were gavaged with 0, 5, and 20 mg/kg body weight PFOS daily from gestational day 12–18...
Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures located at the termini of chromosomes. They are essential for chromosome stability. Telomeres become shorter due to mitotic cycles and environmental factors. When telomeres are shortened and therefore dysfunctional, cellular senescence occurs and organ dysfunction might develop. During pregnancy, fetal growth restriction secondary to placental insufficiency has...
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been implicated to angiogenesis in various tissues. We sought to investigate the role of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in regulating production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) proteins, the key factors of angiogenesis and vasculogenesis, in placenta.Placental tissues were obtained from pregnant women with preeclampsia and healthy pregnant women who underwent elective...
Previous work conducted by our group has shown that nicotine reduces lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced systemic inflammatory responses and protects fetuses in pregnant Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats. In the present study, we aim to evaluate the influence of nicotine on rat placenta, including cytokine release, leukocyte infiltration, and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7-nAChR) expression.Placental...
Genetic knockdown (KD) of the mouse Ly49 receptor family is reported to result in infertility despite the presence of zona-enclosed blastocysts in the uterus. Ly49 receptors regulate leukocyte functions particularly Natural Killer (NK) cell functions and are analogous to human killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs). Histological analyses of gd3.5–4.5 B6.Ly49KD uteri identified hatched but retarded...
Quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is a reliable tool to analyse gene expression profiles. The expression of housekeeping genes generally serves as a reference for mRNA amount, assuming that it remains stable under pathophysiological and experimental conditions. To date, an empirical validation of reference genes suitable for RT-qPCR-based studies in the...
Insulin receptor (IR) and type 1 and type 2 insulin-like growth factor receptors (IGF1R and IGF2R) play important roles in regulation of placental and foetal growth. All three receptors are abundantly glycosylated. N-glycosylation significantly affects protein conformation and may alter its function. We have recently found that the N-glycome of placental membrane proteins alters during gestation....
Human placental mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) are an attractive source of MSC with great therapeutic potential. However, primary MSC are difficult to study in vitro due to their limited lifespan and patient-to-patient variation.Fetal and maternal MSC were prepared from cells of the chorionic and basal plates of the placenta, respectively. Fetal and maternal MSC were transduced with the human...
The aim of this investigation was to determine the expression of fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) in the placenta from women with preeclampsia and normal pregnancy, and to delineate the regulatory effects on thophoblast cell by FABP4. We determined the expression of FABP4 by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) or enzyme-linked immunesorbent assay (ELISA)...
During placental Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), we have observed spontaneous reductions in placental oxygenation lasting 2–4 min. We hypothesize, that these reductions in placental oxygenation are caused by subclinical uterine contractions.We evaluated placental oxygenation during a five-minute placental BOLD MRI in 56 normal pregnancies (gestational week 23–40)...
The vascular resistance of stem villous arteries is determined by the balance between different contractile and relaxant agents and in the utero-placental circulation. Thromboxane A2 (TxA2), prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) are considered to be among the most important contractile factors. However, it is not known if their contractile effects are consistent along the villous tree...
Oxygen-enhanced MRI non-invasively monitors placental oxygenation in-vivo. This technique has been demonstrated at 1.5 Tesla (T) in healthy pregnancies. The aim of this study was to investigate whether findings are comparable at 3T.Nine pregnant volunteers underwent MRI at 3T. Scans obtained R1 (1/T1) measures from T1 maps under air, followed by a dynamic series breathing 100% oxygen.A statistically...
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