Preeclampsia is a serious high blood pressure disorder that can occur during pregnancy. Although the condition is common, little is known about how it develops, because changes at the maternal-fetal interface of the placenta happen as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy, when sampling of the placenta cannot be done safely. A team of scientists funded by NICHD through the Human Placenta Project (HPP) has determined how to derive placenta-like cells from stem cells taken from the organ, developing an in vitro model of the placenta.
Impaired Placenta Cell Function
Atypical development and function of specialized placental cells are one of the root causes of poor birth outcomes associated with preeclampsia, but research in this area has been limited by the inability to study cells during the early stages of placental development. In one study led by Mana Parast, M.D., Ph.D., and Mariko Horii, M.D., the team used specialized cells, called stem cells, that can develop into multiple types of cells. They isolated stem cells from healthy and preeclamptic pregnancies and induced the stem cells to become placenta-like ones. They found that placenta-like cells from preeclamptic pregnancies did not respond as well to low levels of oxygen as cells derived from healthy placentas did. These results are important, because the normal environment in which fetal cells trigger vascular changes in the placenta is characterized by low oxygen levels.
Identifying Therapeutic Targets
An in vitro model of preeclampsia will enable researchers to look more closely at the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease in a laboratory setting. In the current study, the researchers found differences in genes expressed by stem cells derived from healthy and preeclamptic placentas. The team plans to use this new model system to study such differences, hoping to identify potential drug targets. The researchers noted that their model system can be used for future tests of any compounds developed for those targets. The team will continue to investigate methods for treating the placenta to ensure healthy outcomes.
Learn more about the team
Principal Investigator(s):
Learn more about the HPP-funded project:
Modeling human trophoblast-NK cell interactions in term and preterm birth
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