title: The junctional pattern of the human villous trophoblast. A freeze-fracture study.
abstract: This investigation of the junctional pattern of the human trophoblastic epithelium was carried out on the fractured faces of (a) the syncytial plasma membrane bathed by the maternal blood (S-PMm); (b) by syncytial plasma membrane in contact with either the cytotrophoblast or the trophoblastic basement membrane (S-PMf), and (c) the cytotrophoblastic plasma membrane (C-PM). The most relevant findings were tight junctions on the SPMm, and the intertrophoblastic junctional pattern, not realizing a tight subcompartmentalization between syncytium and cytotrophoblast. The following aspects were discussed: the SPMf represents the last membrane barrier before the fetal capillary, and the function of the cytotrophoblast seems to be limited to the modulation of syncytial activity.
mesh_terms: D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002824:Chorionic Villi / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003896:Desmosomes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004848:Epithelium / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D006801:Humans; D007365:Intercellular Junctions / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014327:Trophoblasts / Q000648:ultrastructure*