Structural changes in the rat placenta during the last third of gestation discovered by stereology

Abstract

Structural changes in the rat placenta during the last third of gestation were for the first time assessed by stereology. Fischer female rats were euthanized on the day 16 or day 19 of gestation, and 35 placentas were collected. Three randomly selected placentas from each group were stereologically analyzed for the absolute volume. The proportion of the glycogenic cells and the trophoblast giant cells (TGC) in the basal part of the placenta was calculated using volume density. The absolute volume of the rat placenta on the day 16 of gestation was determined as 0.0638 cm3. The labyrinth comprised 0.0274 cm3, the basal plate 0.0271 cm3 and the decidua 0.0093 cm3. On the day 19 of gestation, the absolute volume of the placenta was 0.1627 cm3, the labyrinth occupied 0.0922 cm3, the basal plate 0.0596 cm3 and the decidua 0.0109 cm3. The volume density of trophoblast giant cells was 0.174 cm0 on the day 16 and 0.107 cm0 on the day 19 of gestation. The glycogenic cells comprised 0.379 percentage of the basal plate on the day 16 and 0.236 on the day 19 of gestation. We conclude that the absolute volume of the whole placenta and the labyrinth has increased from day 16 to the day 19 of gestation. In contrast, the volume density of glycogenic cells and trophoblast giant cells was higher on the day 16 than on the day 19 of gestation, probably due to the intensive trophoblast invasion during that time.

Advances in imaging feto-placental vasculature: new tools to elucidate the early life origins of health and disease

“…Stereology has been used to assess placental morphology in humans, [42][43][44][45][46][47] mice, 18,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] and rats. [62][63][64] Via unbiased randomised sampling of 2D histological images, structures of interest can be quantitated and mathematically extrapolated to infer 3D structure. In the placenta, stereology is commonly used not only to evaluate information of placental vascular length, diameter, surface area, volume and density 18,[42][43][44]54,63,64 but also to estimate its theoretical diffusion capacity by measuring capillary interhaemal membrane thickness and volumes of placental components, that is, labyrinth zone, spongiotrophoblast and decidual volumes.…”

Reply to comments on the article about structural changes in the rat placenta during the last third of gestation discovered by stereology

“…In addition, due to its small size, it is possible to analyze the entire section of the rat placenta as a single field, which we did, as seen in Figure 2 [3]. However, this is not possible for human placenta, which, due to its larger size, cannot fit into a single section or single field for stereological analysis.…”

Protective Effect of Quercetin on Morphological and Histometrical Changes of Placenta in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rat

“…The induction of diabetes in rodents with Streptozotocin (STZ) is the best and vast pattern of pilot diabetes with the method determined through endogenous chronic oxidative stress, which results from hyperglycemia. In diabetic rats, hyperglycemia due to experimental situation at the end of pregnancy results in weight loss (12). Streptozotocin-treated diabetic rats have a placenta size and embryo weight higher than normal rats.…”

“…Streptozotocin-treated diabetic rats have a placenta size and embryo weight higher than normal rats. These mice often produce macrosomal embryos (12,13). Antioxidant compounds such as vitamins C and E reduce indices of oxidative stress in women and barricade oxidative stress caused by hypoxia in mouse placenta (14,15).…”