Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Placental Development and Function

Dear Colleagues,

The placenta is a transient but essential organ that supports fetal growth by mediating maternal–fetal exchange and establishing immune tolerance during pregnancy. Its proper development and function rely on highly coordinated interactions among trophoblasts, immune cells, decidual cells, and vascular components, as well as tightly regulated signaling pathways that respond to physiological and environmental exposures. Consistent with the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) framework, perturbations in placental regulatory pathways during critical windows of development can have lasting consequences for fetal programming and long-term offspring health. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in defining the cellular composition of the placenta and elucidating molecular mechanisms governing placental development, immune regulation, and endocrine function. However, many fundamental questions remain unresolved. For example, how do placental immune and inflammatory pathways maintain homeostasis while protecting against infection? How do environmental stressors, metabolic disturbances, or maternal inflammation perturb placental cellular networks and contribute to adverse pregnancy outcomes? To what extent does placental dysfunction program fetal development and long-term offspring health in a sex-specific manner?

Addressing these questions requires continued investigation of placental biology at the cellular, molecular, and systems levels, integrating advances in single-cell technologies, spatial analyses, and functional models. A deeper understanding of regulatory mechanisms at play in the placenta will not only clarify the pathogenesis of pregnancy-related disorders, including preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and preterm birth, but will also provide insight into developmental programming of immune and metabolic disease.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to highlight recent advances in placental research, with a particular emphasis on cellular interactions, immune regulation, and signaling pathways at the maternal–fetal interface in health and disease. We welcome original research articles and reviews that can advance our understanding of mechanisms that underlie maternal-fetal communication during pregnancy that have long-lasting impacts from the start of gestation to decades after birth.

Dr. Jiahui Ding
Dr. Mancy Tong
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.