Perfused placental model

Of all the models, the ex vivo perfused placenta most closely resembles the in vivo situation, because it retains the placental organization. It has been used to estimate drug transport across the placenta [23, 24], The cotyledon is the anatomical unit of the placenta and at term, the human placenta contains about 20-30 cotyledons. In the perfused placenta technique, term placentas are 

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L. Gavard, S. Gil, G. Peytavin, P.F. Ceccaldi, C. Ferreira, R. Farinotti, and L. Mandelbrot. Placental transfer of lopinavir/ritonavir in the ex vivo human cotyledon perfusion model. Ami Obstet Gynecol. 195 296-301 (2006). 

H.J. Holmes, B.M. Casey, and R.E. Bawdon. Placental transfer of rosiglitazone in the ex vivo human perfusion model. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 195 1715-1719... 

The placental test is an ex vivo perfusion of isolated human placenta soon after birth for several hours, until the placenta tissue undergoes postpartum deterioration. It allows to determine the transplacental transport and toxicity of test compounds [15]. It requires a laboratory setting within the hospital or in the immediate vicinity. Although it is a valuable model and human specific it is not applicable to routine testing and to large number of compounds. 

In experiments with the perfused guinea pig placenta Kelman (1979) has studied the transfer of heavy metals from the maternal to the embryonic circulation. Using this animal model he was able to demonstrate that the placental transfer for methylmercury was 10-times higher than for anorganic mercury. 

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