IMR Press / CEOG / Volume 26 / Issue 2 / pii/1999015

Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology (CEOG) is published by IMR Press from Volume 47 Issue 1 (2020). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.

Original Research

Immunohistochemical detection of apoptosis in the human term and post-term placenta

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1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of the Saar/and, Homburg/Saar (Germany)
2 Department of Pathology of the University of the Saarland, Homburg/Saar (Germany)
Clin. Exp. Obstet. Gynecol. 1999, 26(2), 56–59;
Published: 10 June 1999
Abstract

Purpose: To study the incidence of apoptosis in human term and post-term placenta and to determine its presence in different areas of placentas of uncomplicated pregnancies. Methods: A total of 15 placentas, 8 obtained from spontaneous deliveries and elective caesarean sections at term (37-41 weeks of pregnancy) and 7 from spontaneous deliveries and elective caesarean sections post-term (>41 weeks of pregnancy) were inclu­ded in this study. Apoptosis was identified by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end-labeling method (TUNEL, Boehringer, Mannheim, Germany) in paraffin-embedded sections. Results: Apoptosis was predominantly detected in trophoblast and stromal tissue. There were no significant differences in the inci­dence of apoptosis in different parts of placental tissue. A significant increase of apoptosis was seen in both trophoblast and stromal cells of post-term placentas (p < 0.05; p < 0.005). Conclusion: Apoptosis could be detected in the human term and post-term placenta, with increasing incidence in post-term pla­cental tissue, suggesting a possible role of apoptosis in the mechanism of parturition and placental senescence.

Keywords
Placenta
Apoptosis
Pregnancy
Trophoblast
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