Study on Placenta and Pregnancy Screening

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Physiology and Pathology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (27 August 2024) | Viewed by 1283

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary
Interests: perinatal ultrasound; serum markers for complications of pregnancy; histopathology of the placenta; neonatal pathological conditions
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

One of the most important tasks of modern perinatology is to diagnose and prevent prenatal and postnatal complications in high-risk pregnancies as early as possible. In pregnancies at risk, abnormal placental circulation is one of the main problems, which can lead to endogenous stress. This results in redistribution of the fetal circulation, which also affects the arterial circulation of the fetal kidney, causing prolonged hypoxaemia, hypovolaemia, hypotension, metabolic acidosis, leading to subsequent renal failure, and impaired renal perfusion.

Research on placental and fetal organ vascularisation and volumetric changes in vivo/in vitro has become a major area of research in the work groups through the development of various diagnostic techniques.

The study of the placenta is particularly important in GDM, Preeclampsia and IUGR pregnancies.

The results should be compared with data from healthy pregnant women of all ages at term.

Worldwide, conventional two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound and MRI are widely used to monitor the placenta during pregnancy. In prenatal diagnosis, examination of the fetus is of paramount importance, but it should be remembered that emphasis should also be placed on examination of the placenta itself, another member of the fetoplacental unit.

The 2D ultrasound scan and MRI images provide an image of the placenta's morphology, anatomy, location, adhesion, adhesion abnormalities and size. Conventional US images provides information on flow conditions only in terms of indirect indicators (such as the ratio of systolic to diastolic flow rates, the resistance index and the pulsatile index when examining the flow of the umbilical and uterine arteries).

In this Special Thematic Issue, we look forward to the results of research on these topics from all countries of the world.

Dr. Andrea Suranyi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • perinatal ultrasound
  • serum markers for complications of pregnancy
  • histopathology of the placenta
  • neonatal pathological conditions
  • sonographic parameters
  • molecular markers
  • extravillous and villous trophoblasts

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 4014 KiB  
Article
Antioxidant Defenses, Oxidative Stress Responses, and Apoptosis Modulation in Spontaneous Abortion: An Immunohistochemistry Analysis of First-Trimester Chorionic Villi
by Ioana Vornic, Alexandru Nesiu, Ana Maria Ardelean, Oana Cristina Todut, Victoria Cristina Pasare, Cristina Onel, Ionuț Daniel Raducan and Cristian George Furau
Life 2024, 14(9), 1074; https://doi.org/10.3390/life14091074 - 28 Aug 2024
Viewed by 915
Abstract
Oxidative stress (OS) and apoptosis are critical factors in placental development and function. Their interplay influences trophoblast proliferation, differentiation, and invasion, as well as vascular development. An imbalance between these processes can lead to pregnancy-related disorders such as preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, and [...] Read more.
Oxidative stress (OS) and apoptosis are critical factors in placental development and function. Their interplay influences trophoblast proliferation, differentiation, and invasion, as well as vascular development. An imbalance between these processes can lead to pregnancy-related disorders such as preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, and even spontaneous abortion. Our study seeks to elucidate the associations between preventive antioxidant/protective OS response factors—glutathione (GSH), MutT Homolog 1 (MTH1), and apoptotic regulation modulators—tumor protein p53 and B-cell lymphoma (Bcl-2) transcripts, in the context of spontaneous abortion (30 samples) versus elective termination of pregnancy (20 samples), using immunohistochemistry (IHC) to determine their proteomic expression in chorionic villi within abortive fetal placenta tissue samples. Herein, comparative statistical analyses revealed that both OS response factors, GSH and MTH1, were significantly under-expressed in spontaneous abortion cases as compared to elective. Conversely, for apoptotic regulators, p53 expression was significantly higher in spontaneous abortion cases, whereas Bcl-2 expression was significantly lower in spontaneous abortion cases. These findings suggest that a strong pro-apoptotic signal is prevalent within spontaneous abortion samples, alongside reduced anti-apoptotic protection, depleted antioxidant defenses and compromised oxidative DNA damage prevention/repair, as compared to elective abortion controls. Herein, our hypothesis that OS and apoptosis are closely linked processes contributing to placental dysfunction and spontaneous abortion was thus seemingly corroborated. Our results further highlight the importance of maintaining redox homeostasis and apoptotic regulation for a successful pregnancy. Understanding the mechanisms underlying this interplay is essential for developing potential therapies to manage OS, promote placentation, and avoid unwanted apoptosis, ultimately improving pregnancy outcomes. Antioxidant supplementation, modulation of p53 activity, and the enhancement of DNA repair mechanisms may represent potential approaches to mitigate OS and apoptosis in the placenta. Further research is needed to explore these strategies and their efficacy in preventing spontaneous abortion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study on Placenta and Pregnancy Screening)
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