Center of Clinical Reproductive Medicine and State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Biol Reprod. 2011 Sep;85(3):635-42. doi: 10.1095/biolreprod.110.090589. Epub 2011 May 12.
This study compared the ultrastructural differences of term placentae from human pregnancies resulting from assisted reproductive technology (ART) with term placentae from spontaneous human pregnancies. Term placentae were taken from women who had undergone an ART procedure (n = 8) and matched with term placentae from women who had had a spontaneous pregnancy (controls, n = 15). Using light microscopy (LM) and transmission-electron microscopy (TEM), terminal villi were evaluated with respect to the placental blood barrier, fetal capillaries, villous stroma, as well as cytotrophoblasts and syncytiotrophoblasts (ST) along with their substructures. No obvious differences were found between the ART-derived and control placentae when LM was used. With TEM, however, differences in the ultrastructural features were seen in the ART-derived placentae, specifically degenerative alterations of the terminal villi, mainly in ST, including a thicker placental barrier, decreased apical microvilli, and increased multiple vacuoles. The results demonstrate that some ultrastructural differences exist between ART-derived and control placentae with respect to the placental blood barrier, which may suggest maternofetal traffic downregulation following ART treatment. Further studies are required to understand the ultrastructural changes and their potential functional aspects in ART pregnancies.
这项研究比较了来自辅助生殖技术（ART）的足月胎盘与自然妊娠足月胎盘的超微结构差异。从接受过 ART 程序的妇女（n = 8）中取出足月胎盘，并与自然妊娠的妇女（对照组，n = 15）的足月胎盘相匹配。使用光镜（LM）和透射电子显微镜（TEM），评估胎盘血屏障、胎儿毛细血管、绒毛间质以及滋养细胞和合体滋养细胞（ST）及其亚结构。当使用 LM 时，在 ART 衍生的胎盘和对照胎盘之间未发现明显差异。然而，使用 TEM 观察到 ART 衍生的胎盘在超微结构特征上存在差异，特别是 ST 中的终末绒毛退行性改变，包括胎盘屏障增厚、顶微小绒毛减少和多个空泡增加。结果表明，ART 衍生的胎盘与对照胎盘在胎盘血屏障方面存在一些超微结构差异，这可能表明 ART 治疗后母胎交通减少。需要进一步研究以了解 ART 妊娠中的超微结构变化及其潜在的功能方面。
