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The placenta (pl.: placentas or placentae) is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation.It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas and waste exchange between the physically separate maternal and fetal circulations, and is an important endocrine organ, producing hormones that regulate both maternal and fetal ...
Articles relating to the placenta, a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation.It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas and waste exchange between the physically separate maternal and fetal circulations, and is an important endocrine organ, producing hormones that regulate both maternal and fetal physiology ...
The function of these shunts is to bypass the lungs and maintain proper circulation to important fetal tissue. In the fetal stage, the lungs fill with fluid and collapse because the fetus is within the amniotic sac and the placenta is providing the oxygen it needs to grow.
Image showing trophoblast differentiated into the two layers of cytotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast during implantation. It is the outer layer of the trophoblasts and actively invades the uterine wall, during implantation, rupturing maternal capillaries and thus establishing an interface between maternal blood and embryonic extracellular fluid, facilitating passive exchange of material ...
The fetal-placental unit secretes steroid hormones and proteins that alter the function of various maternal endocrine glands. Sometimes, the changes in certain hormone levels and their effects on their target organs can lead to gestational diabetes and gestational hypertension .
The function of placentation is to transfer nutrients, respiratory gases, and water from maternal tissue to a growing embryo, and in some instances to remove waste from the embryo. Placentation is best known in live-bearing mammals ( Theria ), but also occurs in some fish, reptiles, amphibians, a diversity of invertebrates, and flowering plants .
The fetal endocrine system is one of the first systems to develop during prenatal development of a human individual. The endocrine system arises from all three embryonic germ layers. The endocrine glands that produce the steroid hormones, such as the gonads and adrenal cortex, arise from the mesoderm.
In response to the signals, the gonads produce hormones that stimulate libido and the growth, function, and transformation of the brain, bones, muscle, blood, skin, hair, breasts, and sex organs. Physical growth —height and weight—accelerates in the first half of puberty and is completed when an adult body has been developed.