title: A stereological method for estimating the feto-maternal exchange surface area in the bovine placentome at 135 days gestation.
abstract: The feto-maternal relationships within the bovine placentome at 135 days gestation were investigated using unbiased stereology. This provides an estimate of the feto-maternal interface without physically separating these. The functional surface area, the volume of the fetal and maternal components, volumetric tissue shrinkage due to processing, and the feto-maternal surface amplification factor were estimated and quantified in standard units. In this healthy bovine pregnancy there were 105 placentomes with a total volume of 900 ml. The volumetric tissue shrinkage was 24% and the maternal: fetal tissue ratio overall was 0.92. The total feto-maternal exchange surface area was 18.5 m2 with a surface amplification factor of 108.1. Analysis of the coefficient of error from counting different numbers of points within the reference area suggested that 50% and 75% fewer points could be counted to achieve the result obtained by counting approximately 6000 points used in this study.
authors.affiliation: Utrecht University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Farm Animal Health, Ruminant Health Unit, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Kannekens
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: C V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Currie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001699:Biometry; D002417:Cattle; D005260:Female; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010920:Placenta / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results