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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 ...
Placentation is the formation, type and structure, or modes of arrangement of the placenta.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.
The form of the human placenta is generally classified as a discoid placenta. Within this, the cotyledons are the approximately 15-25 separations of the decidua basalis of the placenta, separated by placental septa. [3] Each cotyledon consists of a main stem of a chorionic villus as well as its branches and sub-branches. [3]
Diagram of the human fetal circulatory system. Oxygenated blood from the placenta is carried to the fetus by the umbilical vein, which will drain into the inferior vena cava (IVC) through the ductus venosus or the liver. [5]
Human embryology is the study of this development during the first eight weeks after fertilization. The normal period of gestation (pregnancy) is about nine months or 36 weeks. The germinal stage refers to the time from fertilization through the development of the early embryo until implantation is completed in the uterus .
The placenta derives from the embryonic chorion (the portion of the chorion that develops villi) and the underlying uterine tissue of the mother. [4] [5] The corresponding structure in non-mammalian animals is an undifferentiated ball of cells called the blastula.
The syncytiotrophoblast is composed of fused cytotrophoblasts which then form a layer that covers the placental surface. [6] The syncytiotrophoblast is in direct contact with the maternal blood that reaches the placental surface. It then facilitates the exchange of nutrients, wastes and gases between the maternal and fetal systems.
In placental mammals, the urogenital folds become the ventral aspect of the penis in the male and the labia minora (primates including humans)/labia vulvae (non-primates) in the female. [5] [6] [7] Even after differentiation can be seen between the sexes, some stages are common, e.g. the disappearing of the membrane.