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Structural and Functional Developmental Perspectives of the Placental Barrier and Its Role in the Fetal Development During the First and Second Trimesters

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Abstract

The term placenta has been derived from the Latin word meaning ‘Cake’ and the Greek word for ‘flat slab like structure’. The primary function of the placenta is to act as a fetomaternal organ and a barrier with two of its components, the fetal placenta also termed as the “Chorion frondosum” and the maternal placenta termed as “Decidua basalis”. The fetal placenta develops from the blastocyst and the maternal placenta from the maternal uterine tissues. The first concept regarding the presence of a fetomaternal or a placental barrier was coined around 46 years ago by using transport physiology and ultrastructural analysis. However in terms of evolutionary trend it is observed that the human fetomaternal barrier which is 10 nm size is less selective than the epitheliochorial barriers in animals. The metabolic capacity of the trophoblast and macrophage along with the fetal blood cells plays an important role in the fetomaternal barrier in the first trimester and the early stages of second trimester by metabolizing and converting harmful toxins into less harmful substrates and by also forming a sequential barrier to the maternal activated immune cells. Also the placenta plays a very important role in providing a micro niche which supports the fetal growth through transfer of nutrients and immunological properties which helps in imparting protective immunological properties to the fetus. It also acts as a major fetomaternal barrier against pathogens and the maternal immune system. Placenta also undertakes the secretion of different hormones, cytokines, growth factors and other bioactive products essential for the fetus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Regenerative Medicine and Translational Science, Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, India

    Priyodarshi Sengupta MSc, MPhil, Biplabendu Talukdar MD & Indranil Roy MSc

  2. Department of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, India

    Santanu Tripathi MD (Professor)

  3. School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, India

    Nandita Bose MD (Director)

  4. Formerly, Professor, Department of Pathology, IPGMER, SSKM Hospital, Kolkata, India

    Nandita Bose MD (Director)

  5. Medical Education, Govt. of West Bengal, Kolkata, India

    Sushanta Banerjee MD (Director)

  6. Formerly, Professor and Head, Department of Pharmacology, RG Kar Medical College, Kolkata, India

    Sushanta Banerjee MD (Director)

  7. Dr. Subhas Mukherjee, Chair Professor, Department of Regenerative Medicine and Translational Science, Director General of the Public Cord Blood Bank and Convener of Bidhan Chandra Roy Biorepository, Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Niranjan Bhattacharya Dsc, MD, MS, FSOG, FICS, FACS

Authors
  1. Priyodarshi Sengupta MSc, MPhil
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  2. Biplabendu Talukdar MD
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  3. Indranil Roy MSc
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  4. Santanu Tripathi MD
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  5. Nandita Bose MD
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  6. Sushanta Banerjee MD
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  7. Niranjan Bhattacharya Dsc, MD, MS, FSOG, FICS, FACS
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Niranjan Bhattacharya Dsc, MD, MS, FSOG, FICS, FACS .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, India

    Niranjan Bhattacharya

  2. Boston University, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, USA

    Phillip G. Stubblefield

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Sengupta, P. et al. (2016). Structural and Functional Developmental Perspectives of the Placental Barrier and Its Role in the Fetal Development During the First and Second Trimesters. In: Bhattacharya, N., Stubblefield, P. (eds) Human Fetal Growth and Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14874-8_35

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14874-8_35

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14874-8

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