Placental Development and Function

Dear Colleagues,

Normal pregnancy is critically dependent on a proper functioning placenta. Any impairment of placental (trophoblast) cell development or differentiation negatively impacts both the mother and the developing fetus and can lead to intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). IUGR is a pathological condition in which the fetus never reaches its growth potential. This is associated with altered fetal tissue programming and can have long-lasting consequences for future offspring, also referred to as the Barker hypothesis, or fetal origin of adult diseases, which includes a predisposition to develop cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or infertility. Therefore, understanding trophoblast cell development and differentiation is critical to provide insight into pregnancy complications that adversely affect both mother and fetal health and well-being. Studying placental development and function in humans is greatly hampered by the obvious considerable ethical issues that arise when, for example, obtaining placental tissues during pregnancies. Furthermore, although the placenta has the same critical function in mammals, substantial differences exist in its anatomy, requiring the use of different animal models to provide insight into human placentation.

This Special Issue is open to both original and review articles highlighting the molecular, cellular and genetic regulation underlying trophoblast cell proliferation and differentiation, as well as the use of new and unique in vitro and in vivo models to study placental function in humans and animals.

Prof. Dr. Gerrit Bouma
Guest Editor

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• placenta
• trophoblast cells
• animal models
• pregnancy disorders
• fetal growth
• placental nutrient transport
• metabolism
• hormones