Histological and histochemical changes in placenta of diabetic pregnant females and its comparision with normal placenta

Placenta is the most important and vital organ of intrauterine life. It is fountainhead of human existence. The placenta is formed from elements of membrane which surround the developing fetus and the uterine endometrium and provide the means for physiological exchange between the fetal and maternal circulation and it shows various histological and histochemical changes in case of diabetic mother. Histologically a term placenta shows large number of villi and syncytial knots. In these knots, syntiotrophoblast nuclei are aggregated together in clusters leaving zones of thin cytoplasm devoid of nuclei in between. The diffusion barrier between maternal and fetal circulation comprises of five layers-trophoblast, trophoblastic basement membrane, core of supporting tissue, capillary endothelial basement membrane and endothelium. Yang in his study found histological changes like villous immaturity, proliferation of small fetal vessels, increased syntitiotrophoblast knots in diabetic placenta[1]. Okail found histological changes in syncytiotrophoblast structure were more marked in poorly controlled gestational diabetes placenta[2]. Evers et al. in their study on diabetic placenta found various histological abnormalities like fibrinoid necrosis, villous immaturity in the placenta[3]. The present work aims to increase our knowledge about the histological and histochemical changes in diabetic placenta because very few studies have been done on histochemical changes in placenta of a diabetic mother and further research in this field will go a long way in finding out a solution in evaluating the destructive changes in diabetic placenta in the initial stages of pregnancy.