Placental delayed villous maturation is associated with evidence of chronic fetal hypoxia

Sunil Jaiman, Roberto Romero, Percy Pacora, Eun Jung Jung, Marian Kacerovsky, Gaurav Bhatti, Lami Yeo, Chaur Dong Hsu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Normal development of the human placenta, referred to as villous tree maturation, entails formation of the vasculosyncytial membranes. These structures develop by the approximation of syncytiotrophoblasts with the villous capillary endothelium and constitute the most efficient sites of gaseous exchange in the placenta. Defective maturation of the villous tree can lead to deficient vasculosyncytial membranes, implicated in the high incidence of hypoxic complications. Hypoxia, in turn, can stimulate production of erythropoietin, whereby increased fetal plasma or amniotic fluid concentrations of this hormone reflect fetal hypoxemia. The current study was undertaken to determine whether delayed villous maturation is associated with changes in amniotic fluid erythropoietin concentrations. Placental histologic examination was performed using hematoxylin and eosin. Subsequent to histologic assessment of delayed villous maturation, the diagnosis was confirmed with CD-15 immunohistochemistry. The controls (n = 61) were pregnancies without villous maturation abnormalities, and cases (n = 5) were pregnancies with delayed villous maturation. Amniotic fluid erythropoietin concentrations were measured using a specific immunoassay. Concentrations of erythropoietin in the amniotic fluid (1) of controls were less than the limit of detection and (2) of cases with delayed villous maturation were significantly higher than those of controls (P-value = 0.048). Delayed villous maturation is associated with higher concentrations of amniotic fluid erythropoietin.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)516-518
Number of pages3
JournalJournal of Perinatal Medicine
Volume48
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • CD-15
  • amniotic fluid
  • disorders of villous maturation
  • erythropoietin
  • human placental maturation disorders
  • vasculosyncytial membranes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology

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