placenta

By Michael Haederle, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center February 27, 2024Researchers at the University of New Mexico have discovered microplastics in all tested human placenta samples, revealing a concerning presence of these particles in the human body.Microplastics detected in all examined human placentas point to significant environmental contamination and health risks, with future research needed to understand the full implications.A flurry of recent studies has found that microplastics are present in…

It's been over three years since scientists first found microplastics swimming in four different human placentas, and as it turns out, that was just the tip of the iceberg.A few years later, at the start of 2023, researchers announced they had found microscopic particles of plastic waste in no fewer than 17 different placentas. By the end of 2023, a local study in Hawai'i analyzed 30 placentas that were donated between 2006 and 2021 only to find plastic contamination had increased significantly over time.Using a new…

Researchers have created a stem cell-based organoid model of the placental barrier, offering a new tool for studying placental function and drug toxicity, potentially improving fetal safety in drug development.Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) overcome scientific roadblocks and develop a model to assess the biology of the human placental barrier.During pregnancy, the human placenta plays multiple essential roles, including hormone production and nutrient/waste processing. It also serves as a…

A new study has found that giving human placenta cells to mice reduced high blood pressure and the arterial inflammation and cognitive impairment caused by it. The findings open the door to a new form of therapy that goes beyond lowering high blood pressure to treat the damage resulting from it.The number of people in the world living with high blood pressure, or hypertension, doubled between 1990 and 2019, from 650 million to 1.3 billion. Over time, hypertension can cause inflammation in the arteries and contribute to…

“The cell is effectively dressing up as an infectious agent,” Kagan said. “The result is that it convinces itself that it’s infected, and then operates as such.”Simmering ImmunityImmune responses can be destructive, and antiviral responses especially so. Because viruses are at their most dangerous when they’re already inside a cell, most immune strategies that target viral infections work in part by damaging and killing infected cells.For that reason, cells cry “Virus!” at their own risk. In most tissues, Alu sequences…

About 30 million years ago, a virus infected our primate ancestors and one of its genes got trapped in their genomes. Over time, this viral gene became “domesticated”—and territorial. It helped primates fight off other viruses by preventing them from entering cells. The invader—known as Suppressyn (SUPYN)—is still around today, and it’s still helping us out: A new study reveals that this viral turncoat might help the placenta protect embryos from viral infection.…