Placenta Flashcards
what is placental dysfunction and its possible effects
Placental dysfunction is malnutrition or abnormal development of the placenta which is linked with obesity in adulthood as well as cardiovascular disease and other common chronic conditions.
Summarise the Barker hypothesis
intrauterine growth retardation, low birth weight and premature birth has a relationship to the origin of the disease that may be experienced by the individual later in life. e.g hypertension and coronary heart disease
what are extravillous trophoblast cells and what do they do?
Subset of cytotrophoblast that differentiate to become extravillous trophoblast cells.
Role: invade the endometrium, myometrium and then spiral arteries. They remodel the highly coiled spiral arteries from low flow, High resistance vessels, to become wider, high flow, low resistance vessels.
this allows sufficient blood flow to foetus.
How are substances transported across placenta
glucose- facilitated diffusion
amino acids- active transport
fatty acids- fatty acid transporter protein
