Placental abnormalities are associated with two of the most common and serious complications of human pregnancy, maternal preeclampsia (PE) and fetal intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), each disorder affecting approximately 5% of all pregnancies. An important question for the use of the mouse as a model for studying human disease is the degree of functional conservation of genetic control p...

INTRODUCTION Advocates of human maternal placentophagy report that encapsulated placenta is an excellent source of dietary iron. Our study compared the effect of ingested encapsulated placenta on maternal postpartum iron status versus that of a beef placebo. METHODS A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study (N = 23) was conducted among healthy human research participants expe...

Many stillbirths result from pregnancy complications, whose root cause is abnormal development and function of the placenta [1]. In order to prevent stillbirths, we need to have a better understanding of how the human placenta develops, both in normal and abnormal pregnancies. This lack of understanding of the human placenta has recently been acknowledged, and “The Human Placenta Project” launc...

Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH, cytochrome P|-450) is highly inducible in several human cells and tissues exposed to specific halogenated and nonhalogenated aromatic chemicals of the "3-methylcholanthrene-type." In laboratory animals AHH induction is known to be regulated by binding of inducers to the Ah receptor, a soluble intracellular protein. However, the induction mechanism in the human...

Human maternal placentophagy is a rare but growing practice in several industrialized countries among postpartum mothers seeking a variety of purported health benefits attributed to the practice. These postpartum mothers typically consume their placenta as a processed, encapsulated supplement. To determine whether free (unconjugated) steroid hormones and melatonin in placenta can survive the en...

Pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM) is expressed in a range of clinical complications that include increased disease severity in pregnant women, decreased fetal viability, intra-uterine growth retardation, low birth weight and infant mortality. The physiopathology of malaria in pregnancy is difficult to scrutinize and attempts were made in the past to use animal models for pregnancy malaria stud...

OBJECTIVE The involvement of the genital mycoplasmas Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis in complications of pregnancy has remained controversial especially because these microorganisms are frequent colonizers of the lower genital tract. Recovery of bacteria from the placenta appears to be the sole technique to represent a true infection and not vaginal contamination. Therefore, we in...

Pregnancy is associated with hemostatic challenges that may lead to thrombosis. Heparin cofactor II (HCII) is a glycosaminoglycan-dependent thrombin inhibitor present in both maternal and fetal plasma. HCII activity increases during pregnancy, and HCII levels are significantly decreased in women with severe pre-eclampsia. Dermatan sulfate (DS) specifically activates HCII and is abundant in the ...

Placental system A activity is important for the supply of neutral amino acids needed for fetal growth. There are three system A isoforms: SNAT1, SNAT2 and SNAT4, but the contribution of each to system A-mediated transport is unknown. Here, we have used immunohistochemistry to demonstrate that all three isoforms are present in the syncytiotrophoblast suggesting each plays a role in amino acid t...