The effect of ethanol and nicotine on ER stress in human placental villous explants

Contaminants of emerging concern in the fetal environment

“…Villous explants from term placentas have been used to evaluate villous metabolism, endocrine function and transport of amino acids and other small molecules [120][121][122] , whereas early placental tissue explants have been used to study placentation, invasion of EVTs, trophoblast proliferation and differentiation 123,124 . Villous explants from both early and term placenta have been used to study the effects of xenobiotics on transporter expression 125 and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress 126 . These models maintain the topology of chorionic villi (i.e., contain microvillous membrane of the syncytium, mesenchymal stromal cells, endothelial cells, blood cells and Hofbauer cells) and represent a functional unit of the placenta.…”