Placenta in Biological News

Study of placenta unexpectedly leads to cancer gene

University of Rochester Medical Center scientists discovered a gene mutation that impairs the placenta and also is influential in cancer development, according to a study published online December 16, 2008, in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology . The investigation is the firs...

Clues to ancestral origin of placenta emerge in Stanford study

STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have uncovered the first clues about the ancient origins of a mother's intricate lifeline to her unborn baby, the placenta, which delivers oxygen and nutrients critical to the baby's health. The evidence suggests the p...

Tumor-suppressor gene is critical for placenta development

An important cancer-related gene may play a critical role in the development of the placenta, the organ that controls nutrient and oxygen exchange between a mother and her fetus during pregnancy, and perhaps in miscarriages. Those conclusions come from a new study of the retinoblastoma (Rb) gene...

Stem cell research: From molecular physiology to therapeutic applications

...amaged cells and tissues in patients. Recent studies have shown that pluripotent stem cells derived from adult bone marrow, the umbilical cord and the placenta could also be induced to differentiate into a variety of different tissues. In this issue, we have invited several scientists in China to summarize th...

Placenta-derived stem cells may help sufferers of lung diseases

.../ct , has found that stem cells derived from human placenta may ultimately play a role in the treatment of lun...t in solid organs, including the lungs. Human term placenta stem cells also demonstrate characteristics of hig...the present study adds an important application of placenta cells, indicating their therapeutic effects in lun...

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

...athy (a tendency to excessive blood coagulation and 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 c...

Female human embryos adjust the balance of X chromosomes before implantation

...iding and reach the blastocyst stage, the cells that will go on to form the placenta continue to have the paternal X chromosome switched off, but it is switched...and is probably the same in all mammals that have their young attached to a placenta in the womb from mice to humans. The researchers looked at human embryo...

Complications early in pregnancy or in previous pregnancies adversely affect existing or subsequent pregnancies

... conditions; in addition, it increased the risk of placenta praevia (where the placenta partially or completely blocks the cervix) six-fol...ppenraaij said: "The finding of a six-fold risk of placenta praevia needs to be treated with caution as it cam...

3 to 6 months to lose weight gained in pregnancy is normal

... normal, it is necessary. The mother's body has to nourish the growing baby. Her body needs to take on more fluid to support the extra circulation the placenta and baby need. Some of this added weight will usually be lost as soon as the baby is born. "Often, the extra effort women have to make to look after a...

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

...ygen 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. Julian said. More than 12,000 feet The study too...

Gladstone scientists identify key factors in heart cell creation

...y into cardiac muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) that beat rhythmically, just like normal heart cells. In fact, even cells that normally contribute to the placenta could be induced to transform into beating cardiomyocytes. "Together, these factors give us a potent mechanism to control cellular differentiation,...

Oh baby, interventional radiology makes childbirth safer

...ncreasingly frequentbirth condition when a woman's placenta (attached both to the wall of the uterus and to th...erventional radiology treatment was available, the placenta couldn't be delivered and women would have to have...uterine artery embolization after delivery (if the placenta could not be delivered). C-section (or Cesarean...

Genome sequencing of fungus with biotechnological applications

...ct for the sequencing of the genome of the Postia placenta fungus. The results, published recently in the Am... this context, the results of the study of the P. placenta genome are one more step in the quest for more ef... letters the almost 17,000 genes making up the P. placenta genome, we would occupy 7,000 pages with 33 milli...

Pregnancy hormone predicts postpartum depression

... Irvine, Calif. Women who have higher levels of a hormone produced by the placenta midway through pregnancy appear more likely to develop postpartum depressio...y's response to stress. During pregnancy, large amounts are produced in the placenta and are associated with delivery. "The hormone we studied plays an impor...

Uncultured bacteria found in amniotic fluids of women who experience preterm births

...uding proteomics results of amniotic fluid and histological analysis of the placenta to corroborate the infection and inflammation. Intra-amniotic inflammati...g spontaneous preterm births," said Han. These bacteria either reach the placenta through the genital tract or through the blood to the placenta. Han suspec...

New technology aims to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths

...nology, employing a panel of biomarkers found to have changed levels in the placenta of women who develop preeclampsia, has been licensed to California-based Bi...ampsia, and the only treatment available to date is to deliver the baby and placenta at any stage of gestation at which the disease is diagnosed. The work has b...

Miscarriage and infertility treatment increase pre-eclampsia risk

...ournal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology , BJOG . placenta important for normal development The causes o...lampsia are unknown, but involve the placenta. The placenta is important for normal development of the pregnan...cy. Failure in the development and function of the placenta seems to be an important mechanism in the developm...

Statin warning for pregnant women

... in fat. As expected, the fat-soluble statin, cerivastatin, affected the placenta resulting in reduced growth but the researchers also found that pravastatin...al effect. "These results clearly show that the effect of statins on the placenta is not dependent on their lipophilicity as had previously been suggested," ...

Vitamin D found to fight placental infection

.... Martin Hewison, suspects that the ability of the placenta to synthesize cathelicidin varies widely among wom... cathelicidin production by vitamin D may help the placenta stave off infection by a variety of pathogenic org...m for activation of innate immune responses in the placenta to protect it from infectious bacteria and sheds n...

CSHL scientists discover a new way in which epigenetic information is inherited

... "We've evolved ways to transmit immunity from mother to child via the secretion of antibodies," he says, referring to the proteins that can cross the placenta and protect the fetus or get passed on to an infant via breast-milk. "We now have a way in which immunity (against sterility) is passed on from mother...

Previous abortions and exercise: Do they affect pregnancy?

...y different conditions, amongst others problems in placenta formation. Perhaps miscarriage and pre-eclampsia a...refore an important cause of premature birth. placenta vital for normal development The causes of pr...lampsia are unknown, but involve the placenta. The placenta is vital for a normal development of the pregnancy...

Severe gestational hypertension may protect against testicular cancer

...estational hypertension may be due to the hormones that are released when a placenta malfunctions. "Ironically, a malfunctioning placenta may lower the risk," said Pettersson. "One possible reason is that estrogen...

Depression during pregnancy can double risk of preterm delivery

...ds to emerging evidence that depression during early pregnancy may interfere with the neuroendocrine pathways and subsequently placental function. The placenta and neuroendocrine functions play an important role in maintaining the health of a pregnancy and determining the onset of labor," Li explained. "P...

Caltech biologists spy on the secret inner life of a cell

...rom a mother to her newborn child is vital for the development of that child's nascent immune system. Those antibodies, donated by transfer across the placenta before birth or via breast milk after birth, help shape a baby's response to foreign pathogens and may influence the later occurrence of autoimmune di...

Statins may prevent miscarriages

... certain receptors called PAR2 (protease-activated receptor 2). Stimulating this receptor led to the activation of white blood cells that attacked the placenta and hurt the fetus. Using an antibody that blocks tissue factor interaction with PAR-2, they inhibited white blood cell activation. In another exp...

Scientists discover why a mother's high-fat diet contributes to obesity in her children

...offspring (a risk factor for overweight and obesity) because fat causes the placenta to go into "overdrive" by providing too many nutrients to the fetus. This i...scientists then took blood from the mothers and measured the ability of the placenta to transport nutrients to the babies. "It's no secret that big women ten...

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

...e John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center, researchers were able to identify pericytes in all human tissues they analyzed, including muscle, fat, pancreas, placenta and many other samples. Through purification in the lab, these pericytes could then be coaxed into becoming whatever type of tissue the scientists des...

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

...rs have shown that the origin and evolution of the placenta and uterus in mammals is associated with evolution...n and evolution of structural innovations like the placenta and uterus," said senior author Gunter Wagner , t...red the immune system and allowed formation of the placenta and internal development of young. By analyzin...

Gap junction protein vital to successful pregnancy, researchers find

... for embryonic growth at this stage of pregnancy, when the embryo has begun to invade into the uterine tissue, but has yet to make a connection to the placenta where it ultimately gets its nutrients," said Illinois veterinary biosciences professor Indrani Bagchi, corresponding author on the study. "I think th...

Virus weaves itself into the DNA transferred from parents to babies

...ent of them (37) had the virus integrated into their chromosomes. Only six of the congenitally infected babies were infected by the mother through the placenta . Children who had integrated HHV-6 had higher levels of virus in the body than those who were infected through the placenta. HHV-6 DNA was found i...

September 2008 Biology of Reproduction highlights

...Press 14 May 2008; DOI 10.1095/biolreprod.108.068106 Pollution and placenta Urban air pollution is associated with poor and adverse pregnancy outco...sect the mechanisms of how specific pollutants influence development of the placenta and fetus. These findings are important with respect to the possible transp...

Likely cause of postpartum blues and depression identified

...n the blood of mother and fetus is courtesy of the placenta regulating levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter...tonin which prompts platelets to aggregate and the placenta to want to get rid of it. "If there were no pro...ce of serotonin transporter gene expression in the placenta back in 1989 in the Journal of Biological Chemistr...

Research exposes new target for malaria drugs

...tic during pregnancy as malaria-infected RBCs congregate in the vessel-rich placenta (the source of food and oxygen for the growing fetus), creating health prob...ere malaria is endemic do gain some immunity to the build-up of RBCs at the placenta after multiple pregnancies by developing an immune response for PfEMP1. Tar...

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

... Nearly 1 million pregnant women annually 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 p...

More than words: childbirth training change improves safety, cuts unnecessary procedures

...se the use of the hormone oxytocin which is given to mothers to make their uterus shrink and bleed less to manage the third stage of labor, when the placenta detaches and passes from the uterus and hemorrhaging may occur. At the start of the study, public hospitals in Argentina and Uruguay had very hig...

Herpes virus link to complications in pregnancy

...etween several hereditary gene mutations with changes in inflammatory proteins that may cause dysfunction and constriction of the blood vessels of the placenta and brain, thus causing the rise in blood pressure in pregnancy. If not controlled, this can be lethal. "We are just beginning to understand the i...

U of M begins nation's first clinical trial using T-reg cells from cord blood in leukemia treatment

...of the Center for Translational Medicine at the University. The T-regs in this study are isolated from umbilical cord blood (blood collected from the placenta or afterbirth after the birth of a child) because they occur in higher frequency than what is typically found in most adults and are easier to expand ...

HIV and malaria combine to adversely affect pregnant women and their infants

... how they acquired protection against malaria in the first place." PAM occurs when red blood cells infected with malaria parasites gather in the placenta resulting in damage to both mother and developing infant. First-time mothers are particularly susceptible to PAM whereas women in subsequent pregnanci...

100 percent of pregnant women have at least one kind of pesticide in their placenta

...tividad hormonal (Maternal-child exposure via the placenta to environmental chemical substances with hormonal...d that the most frequent pesticides present in the placenta tissue are DDE (92.7%), lindane (74.8%), endosulfa...verage concentration of 4.15 nanograms per gram of placenta (156.73 ng/g lipid). Surprisingly, the UGR researc...

Researchers identify ovarian cancer biomarkers

...lthy organs. The researchers also found these markers were not present in normal reproductive tissues that experience blood vessel growth, such as the placenta or endometrium. This suggests that the markers are specific to tumors and would not be mistaken for normal blood vessel growth in women of reproductiv...