Scientists are finding that the placenta is far more than a passive filter
By
Claudia Kalb
|
Saturday, January 28, 2012 |
Image: Norman Barker
The placenta is unique among organs—critical to human life yet
fleeting. In its short time of duty, it serves as a vital protective
barrier to the fetus. The organ’s blood vessels—which resemble tree
roots in this image by Norman Barker, associate professor of pathology
at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine—also deliver
essential oxygen and nutrients from the mother to her developing baby.
Still, the placenta has been vastly underappreciated. Scientists are
taking a closer look and finding that it is much more than a simple
conduit: it actively protects the fetus and shapes neurological
development.
