Disease relevance of Placenta

• Protein deficiency resulted in smaller fetuses and placentas and lower fetal serum levels of IGF I and MSA [1].
• In contrast, antigen levels and immunostaining for PAI-2 were reduced in the placentas harvested from not only the PE/IUGR women (209 +/- 144 ng/mg) but also the IUGR group (169 +/- 106 ng/mg) in comparison with the PAI-2 levels in normal placentas (535 +/- 98 ng/mg) [2].
• Altered expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 in placentas from pregnant women with preeclampsia and/or intrauterine fetal growth retardation [2].
• Immunohistochemistry revealed that the percentage of extravillous trophoblasts containing nuclear beta-catenin was significantly higher in placentas of complete hydatidiform mole pregnancies as compared to normal placentas [3].
• Trophoblasts in normal and Brucella abortus-infected caprine placentas were examined by ultrastructural morphometric analysis to establish structural relationships of B abortus with cytoplasmic organelles; brucellae were identified with colloidal gold-labeled anti-B abortus bovine IgG [4].

High impact information on Placenta

• Although Esx1 mutant embryos were initially comparable in size with controls at 13.5 days post coitum (dpc), their placentas were significantly larger [5].
• Placentas from women who smoked cigarettes contained greater amounts of cytochrome P-450 with the monoclonal antibody-specific epitope than placentas from nonsmokers [6].
• A monoclonal antibody-directed radioimmunoassay was developed that detects epitope-specific cytochromes P-450 in human placentas and peripheral lymphocytes [6].
• 0. Supplementing PPAR gamma null embryos with wild-type placentas via aggregation with tetraploid embryos corrects the cardiac defect, implicating a previously unrecognized dependence of the developing heart on a functional placenta [7].
• Decreased binding of epidermal growth factor in placentas from streptozotocin-diabetic rats [8].

Chemical compound and disease context of Placenta

• We examined placentas and placental bed curettings and/or biopsies from preeclamptic control pregnant women to test the hypothesis that xanthine oxidase is a mediator of oxidative stress in placentas from women with preeclampsia [9].
• We studied glucose transporter (GLUT) protein expression in sections of normal term placental tissue (immunocytochemistry) and in syncytiotrophoblast microvillous (MVM) and basal membranes (BM) isolated from normal term, preterm, and IUGR placentas (immunoblotting) [10].
• Treponema pallidum (2-5 x 10(8) in 10-15 ml RPMI-1640) were circulated via the peristaltic pump throughout the horn for 2 hr, after which the placentas were removed, fixed in formalin, and embedded in paraffin [11].
• Because of the variability of different placentas to condition culture medium for colony-stimulating factor (CSF), we have attempted to augment CSF elaboration using endotoxin and bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) during the incubation period [12].
• The relative hypertrophy of the placentas in the old rats could not be explained by reduced litter size or progesterone concentrations: it may represent a compensatory effect in response to a less favorable uterine environment [13].

Biological context of Placenta

• We report here that an adult human liver IGF-II cDNA hybridizes to poly(A)+ RNAs of human placentas from different gestational ages [14].
• These larger placentas did not confer a fetal growth advantage; fetal size was normal in Ipl nulls with the Ipl(neo) allele and was decreased slightly in nulls with the Ipl(loxP) allele [15].
• To shed more light on this issue, we used PCR to study the methylation status of the polymorphic androgen-receptor gene in full-term human female placentas [16].
• Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to quantitate 120 placentas and 56 cord bloods from term, uncomplicated pregnancies at Taipei Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, for the presence of the imidazole ring-opened form of aflatoxin B1-DNA (AFB1-DNA) adducts [17].
• The placentas of p130(-/-) embryos did not display elevated apoptosis and were indistinguishable from wild type suggesting that the phenotype was not due to placental failure [18].

Anatomical context of Placenta

• Delayed branching of the chorioallantois was evident, and, although embryonic blood vessels were present in the labyrinthine layer of SOCS3(-/-) placentas, the network of embryonic vessels and maternal sinuses was poorly developed [19].
• 5. The dph3(-)(/)(-) placentas also developed abnormally, showing a thinner labyrinth lacking embryonic erythrocytes and blood vessels [20].
• Placentas lacking GATA-2 secrete significantly less angiogenic activity than wild-type placentas as measured in an endothelial cell migration assay, consistent with a reduction in expression of the angiogenic hormone proliferin [21].
• Ligand and receptor proteins were identified in lysates from all three sources although the soluble receptor, TR6, was scarce in placentas and all receptors were in low abundance in cytotrophoblast cells [22].
• Uptake of guanidine, an endogenous organic cation, into brush-border membrane vesicles isolated from human term placentas was investigated [23].

Associations of Placenta with chemical compounds

• Broken cell preparations of rat and human placentas contain an inner (tyrosyl)-ring iodothyronine deiodinase enzyme with greatest activity when the substrate is 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) [24].
• Placentas from streptozotocin-diabetic rats have previously been shown to be morphologically and biochemically immature when compared with those of control rats [8].
• Sulfohydrolase activity toward 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate was higher in fetal and newborn livers and in placentas than in adult liver [25].
• Compared to 3-OH-X sulfotransferase, sulfotransferase activity toward p-nitrophenol was lower in fetal livers and was not detected in placentas [25].
• Our data suggest that progesterone synthesis in the bovine placentome is calcium dependent and cyclic nucleotide independent [26].

Gene context of Placenta

• Coexpression of H19 and IGF2 in the androgenetic tissues was in a single population of cells, mononuclear trophoblast--the same cell type expressing these genes in biparental placentas [27].
• There was consistent overgrowth of the Ipl-null placentas, with expansion of the spongiotrophoblast [15].
• Here, we show that the mucin gene Muc1 is a PPARgamma target, whose expression is lost in PPARgamma null placentas [28].
• In later stage placentas, Vbp1 expression was, however, considerably reduced [29].
• RPA1 was similarly detected in placenta and eNOS mRNA levels in placentas carrying the -786T-->C mutation were significantly lower than in placentas without it [30].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Placenta

• Interleukin-8 production was similar in cells from spontaneously delivered placentas and from those obtained at caesarean section [31].
• Immunohistochemistry showed a qualitative decrease in HLX1 immunoreactivity in FGR-affected term placentas compared with controls [32].
• Type C RNA virus-like particles were found by electron microscopy in term placentas from 3 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 1 with probable SLE, and 2 normal patients [33].
• Immunoblotting with a rabbit polyclonal HLX1 antibody revealed reduced levels of HLX1 in FGR-affected placentas compared with controls (481.07 +/- 12.3 versus 2766.7 +/- 30.3, n = 10, P < 0.001) [32].
• This study reports the immunohistologic detection of SSAV/GaLV type C retrovirus p30-related antigen in unfixed cryostat sections of normal human term placentas by the indirect immunofluorescence method [34].

References