Placental in Biological News

Study of placenta unexpectedly leads to cancer gene

... The investigation is the first to link the key placental gene, SENP2, to the well-known p53 protein, which ... fetus. While investigating disruption of placental formation in a mouse model, Hsu's team observed that embryos lacking SENP2 failed to properly make placental tissue. The failure occurred, researchers ...

Vitamin D found to fight placental infection

... time that vitamin D induces immune responses in placental tissues by stimulating production of the ... widely among women. Their discovery suggests that placental innate immunity can be enhanced if pregnant women ... and sustain this bacterial killing by protecting placental trophoblast cells from infection-associated cell ...

A new gene trigger for pregnancy disorder identified

... of maternal and neonatal morbidity. Knowing that placental hypoxia, or oxygen shortage, associated with ... the urine, high blood pressure and problems with placental blood vessels associated with decreased oxygen ... hypoxia, leading to angiogenic dysfunction and placental insufficiency, which then results in a further ...

Children's Hospital Oakland scientists first to discover new source for harvesting stem cells

... extracted for transplantation. Furthermore, it is highly likely that placental stem cells, like umbilical cord blood and bone marrow stem cells, can be ... and Serikov have also developed a patent-pending method that will allow placental stem cells to be safely harvested and made accessible for transplantation. ...

Statin warning for pregnant women

... water-soluble or 'hydrophilic' statins, such as pravastatin, can affect placental development leading to worse pregnancy outcomes. "The rapid rise in ... our research suggests that they will have a detrimental effect on placental growth, which is likely to result in poor pregnancy outcome. ...

Depression during pregnancy can double risk of preterm delivery

... do know is that a healthy pregnancy requires a healthy placenta, and that placental function is influenced by hormones, which are in turn influenced by the ... pregnancy may interfere with the neuroendocrine pathways and subsequently placental function. The placenta and neuroendocrine functions play an important role ...

September 2008 Biology of Reproduction highlights

... effects of urban air pollution were found to be due to adaptive changes in placental development that ultimately reduce placental function and compromise fetal growth. This is a novel model to dissect the ...

Brain malformations significantly associated with preterm birth, Wake Forest research shows

... formation of blood clots) to find what the association is between that and preterm birth. "The placenta could be a key element," he added. "In placental conditions such as preclampsia, which is strongly associated with preterm birth, there may be blood clots coming from the placenta, causing brain ...

Women with endometriosis need special care during pregnancy to avoid risk of premature birth

... for spontaneous preterm birth. We believe that women with endometriosis are more frequently scheduled for preterm Caesarean section, possibly due to placental complications." Women with endometriosis were also more likely to suffer from pre-eclampsia, a condition that develops in the second or third ...

Female human embryos adjust the balance of X chromosomes before implantation

... vitro culture such as during IVF treatment. Furthermore, our research shows that X chromosome inactivation in humans is not very different from other placental mammals, suggesting that it has remained basically unchanged throughout evolution," said Ms van den Berg. "Early failure to perform correct XCI is ...

Wildlife Conservation Society supports world's first study of egg-laying mammal

... rare and species." About long-beaked echidnas Echidnas are members of the monotremes, an order of mammals that lay leathery eggs, as opposed to placental and marsupial mammals, both groups of which give birth to live young. Echidnas resemble anteaters with long course hairs and spines. They are ...

The evolutionary foundation of genomic imprinting in lower vertebrates

... endogenous imprinted gene has been reported in other vertebrates and invertebrates. Therefore, genomic imprinting is thought a unique phenomenon of placental mammals and a regulatory mechanism to keep a balance of supply and demand for maternal nutrients between mother and fetus in mammalian species. ...

Babies born to native high-altitude mothers have decreased risk of low birth weight

... the uterine artery how much nutrition and/or oxygen the mother is able to deliver through the placenta a combination of both uterine artery and placental factors Most likely, it is both the placenta and the uterine artery that accounts for these differences between Europeans and Andeans, Dr. ...

Previous abortions and exercise: Do they affect pregnancy?

... for mother and baby, with organ failure and risk of convulsions in the mother. The child risks poor growth and development because of insufficient placental function. The only treatment is delivery of the baby and placenta. Pre-eclampsia is therefore an important cause of premature birth. Placenta ...

Pittsburgh researchers identify source of multipotent stem cells with broad regenerative potential

... body have in common. These cells can be extracted easily and painlessly from convenient sources such as fat tissue, dental pulp, umbilical cord and placental tissue, then grown in culture to large numbers and, possibly, re-injected into the patient to heal a broken bone, a failing joint or an injured ...

Scientists find 'redesigned hammer' that forged evolution of pregnancy in mammals

... involved the altered function of a transcription factor protein, HoxA-11. The specific change they found in HoxA-11 is present in all known placental mammals from elephants, the most primitive lineage with a placenta, to humans but does not exist in marsupials, like opossums or wallabies, where ...

Research exposes new target for malaria drugs

... plasmodia protect these conserved areas. Higgins found that a variable region of PfEMP1 covers a section that is important for docking up with the placental wall. When the infected RBC gets close to chondroitin sulphate, a structural molecule on blood vessels, the variable region moves aside and ever so ...

New study shows compounds from soy affect brain and reproductive development

... towards ascertaining the effects of phytoestrogens on developing fetuses and newborns." Patisaul adds that these phytoestrogenic compounds cross the placental barrier in humans and that, while many people are concerned about the effects of man-made compounds on human health, it is important to note that ...

Ante-partum bed rest moms get active in Case Western Reserve University study

... are sent to bed near the end of their pregnancies to prevent preterm labor, premature rupture of membranes, placenta previa, incompetent cervix or placental abruption. According to Maloni, many women leave the hospital and cannot understand why they suffer back problems and muscle aches and are ...

New research on pre-eclampsia in mice may have important implications for humans

... in women with pre-eclampsia. The mice showed multiple features of the disorder, including dangerously high blood pressure, protein in the urine, and placental abnormalities. Then the researchers gave the mice a substance that blocks the action of the autoantibodies; this prevented the development of ...

Clues to ancestral origin of placenta emerge in Stanford study

... found that the placenta develops in two distinct stages. In the first stage, which runs from the beginning of pregnancy through mid-gestation, the placental cells primarily activate genes that mammals have in common with birds and reptiles. This suggests that the placenta initially evolved through ...

Bacterial infections in premature babies more common than previously realized

... syndrome (SIRS), higher incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), higher serum concentrations of interleukin (IL)-6 and more evidence of placental inflammation than those with negative cultures. The earlier the gestational age at delivery, the higher the rate of a positive umbilical cord blood ...

The reservoir of Marburg virus identified in a species of fruit bat

... scarce. The great apes then come into competition with bat species for fruit supplies when foraging and can be infected notably by blood or by placental fluid that escapes when bats give birth. The mode of contamination by Marburg virus appears to be different, however. It does not appear to need any ...

Researchers publish first marsupial genome sequence

... It sheds light on the genetic differences between placental mammals, such as humans, mice and dogs, and ... "Marsupials are the closest living relatives of placental mammals. Because of this relationship, the ... author. Marsupials and the ancestors of placental mammals diverged 180 million years ago. By ...

Tumor-suppressor gene is critical for placenta development

... the embryos without a working Rb gene in the placental progenitor cells. These stem cells divided ... suggests that Rb is important in maintaining placental stems cells, and that it plays a smaller or ... would be the first link between a gene mutation, placental function and development." ...

Key to early diagnosis of autism may be in the placenta

... together we might be able to determine if this placental abnormality could be a useful clinical marker." ... Center, the group designed a study to see if the placental abnormality, specifically the presence of ... by performing microscopic examinations of placental tissues. "We knew that trophoblast inclusions ...

Oxygen increase caused mammals to triumph, researchers say

... exactly to a really rapid rise of large, placental mammals," Falkowski says. "The more oxygen, the ... Past 205 Million Years and the Evolution of Large placental Mammals," stem from years of analysis of organic ... sciences department at Rutgers. There were placental mammals on Earth at the time of the great ...

Pain killer fights breast cancer by targeting key enzyme

... taken from human breast tissue. They also tested the analogs on human placental cells to see if the analogs would stop aromatase production in these ... analogs stopped aromatase production in the breast cells, but not in the placental cells. "Aromatase is necessary for normal functions of many tissues in ...

Marsupial genome reveals insights into mammalian evolution

... represented today by only the platypus and echidna.) "Comparing genes of placental mammals, such as the human and the mouse, is not very efficient because ... and monotreme genomes fill this gap. They are easily aligned with placental mammal genomes, yet are different enough to pinpoint regions that have ...

Study uncovers placental microtransfusions lead to transmission of AIDS virus during childbirth

... "This work shows strongly for the first time that what we call placental microtransfusions during birth are responsible for a large part of the ... measuring -- in umbilical cord blood samples -- a protein known as placental alkaline phosphatase as an indicator of maternal-fetal microtransfusion. ...

New findings could lead to vaccine for severe malaria

... a future vaccine cannot be based on the principle of one protein-one receptor, as was previously believed." Now that scientists know that several placental receptors are involved in the binding mechanism, attention will be shifted to the parasite itself, and whether it produces many different surface ...

Molecules in blood foretell development of preeclampsia

... in the study who had developed preeclampsia had increased levels of sFlt1. The increase in sFlt1 was accompanied by reduced levels of a substance, placental growth factor (PlGF). Both women with term preeclampsia and women with gestational hypertension had a simultaneous rise in soluble endoglin, and an ...

Scientists explore how complex organs develop from a simple bud

... of the prostate gland and seminal vesicles is included, as well as an in-depth look at the genetic and cellular interactions critical to placental development. Research on this process in mouse kidneys generated a real-time tracking procedure which has significant implications for genetic ...

Tiny bones rewrite textbooks

... The team believes that more mammal specimens may emerge, perhaps even species that pre-date the split between pouched marsupials and live-bearing placental mammals. The St Bathans fossil field - which has also produced many other species of animals, including fish and birds - also promises to shed ...

Parental genes do what's best for baby

... mothers and their offspring, rather than conflict, can produce the sorts of imprinting patterns we see for a lot of genes. “For example, during placental development the maternal and offspring genomes have to work together to produce a functional placenta. By expressing the genes they get from their ...

Scientists get first glimpse at how plants, most animals repair UV-damaged DNA

... by regulating how long the donated electron stays inside the damage site before returning to the photolyase molecule. Scientists believe that all placental mammals lost the ability to make this enzyme some 170 million years ago, said Zhong, an assistant professor of physics and adjunct assistant ...

Discarded placentas deliver researchers promising cells similar to embryonic stem cells

... Routinely discarded as medical waste, placental tissue could feasibly provide an abundant source of cells with the same potential to treat diseases and regenerate tissues as their more ...

Determining The Fate Of Cells In The Human Body

... on a hand, paw or wing, and whether these digits are webbed or not. In addition to limb abnormalities, these proteins are associated with cardiac and placental tissue defects. Twist1 mutations are encountered at high frequency in patients with Saethre-Chotzen Syndrome. "By studying a disease in which ...

PET/MRI scans may help unravel mechanisms of prenatal drug damage

... particularly relevant, the researchers said, because cocaine is known to constrict blood vessels in the placenta. It may be that this constriction of placental blood flow is one of the mechanisms underlying the harmful effects of cocaine exposure during pregnancy. The research was funded by the Office of ...