Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Robbins JR
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3265690 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Robbins Jennifer R JR Bakardjiev Anna I AI
Current opinion in microbiology 20111212 1
Placental infections are major causes of maternal and fetal disease. This review introduces a new paradigm for placental infections based on current knowledge of placental defenses and how this barrier can be breached. Transmission of pathogens from mother to fetus can occur at two sites of direct contact between maternal cells and specialized fetal cells (trophoblasts) in the human placenta: firstly, maternal immune and endothelial cells juxtaposed to extravillous trophoblasts in the uterine im ...[more]