Pre-eclampsia is a major complication of human pregnancy. Its trigger is from placental origin and may involve an abnormal placentation characterized by a defect of trophoblast invasion and an absence of remodelling of the maternal spiral arteries. In this study, we have characterized and developed a model of culture of extravillous trophoblast cells involved in human implantation. We showed that these cells expressed high levels of PPAR gamma by immunocytochemistry and real-time quantitative PCR. We showed that different natural ligands potentially present at the feto-maternal interface, such as oxidised low density lipoproteins, inhibited in vitro in a concentration dependent manner extravillous cytotrophoblast invasion. These results point to a key role of PPAR gamma in the pathology of pre-eclampsia.