What Are The Functions Of The Placenta?

The Placenta is a temporary organ formed during the pregnancy, which is essential for the normal development of the embryo. It serves a triple purpose: nourishing, eliminating and respiratory source for the embryo. It is, basically, a route for allowing the gaseous exchange from the embryo to the mother. This gaseous exchange occurs through diffusion from the embryo's blood vessels to the mother's.

Due to its large surface area, it is capable of transporting substances from mother to the embryo and vice versa. The substances exchanged consist of oxygen and essential nutrients from the maternal blood to the embryo. The embryo's waste materials, which consist of carbon dioxide, urea etc. are diffused into the maternal circulation, from which they are removed.

The placenta is highly porous to glucose, iron, amino acids and some protein molecules. It also produces glycogen fatty acids and cholesterol, which provide the embryo energy. The embryo receives a large quantity of glucose molecules undamaged, but a greater part of it is broken down into lactate, which is used by the embryo for energy production. The embryo produces a higher concentration of the amino acids, which are diffused into maternal blood capillaries through active transport.

Another important function of the Placenta is the regulation of the mother's endocrine system. It starts producing hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) right after implantation. HCG provides the embryo a safe journey ahead, by repressing and protecting it from the ovarian hormones, which support the pregnancy. The presence of HCG is the basis of the pregnancy test. With time, the placenta takes over the production of the other two female hormones, the estrogen and the progesterone.

The newborn is also provided a passive immunity against certain diseases through antibodies, which are passed from the mother through the placenta. The placenta also allows the exchange of alcohol, bacteria, drugs and certain syndrome from the mother.

Malfunction of placenta can dangerous harm the embryo, resulting in an abnormal miscarriage or even stillbirth. Women who smoke and use drugs during their pregnancy are at a risk of developing placenta previa, which is the technical name given to the situation when the placenta lies very low in the uterus, almost covering the cervix.

The placenta obtains nutrients, oxygen, antibodies and hormones as of the mother's blood and passes away throw away. It forms an obstruction, the placental barrier, which filters out various substances which could mischief the child. The placental fence does NOT allocate the two bloods on or after the mother and embryo to mix since if the blood types don't match then the baby will be destroyed. Many substances are not filtered out, however, including alcohol and a quantity of chemicals linked with smoking cigarettes. Several types of virus, such as being Cytomegalovirus, May also angry this blockade; this often leads to a variety of degrees of birth defects in the infant.

In adding up to the move of gases and nutrients, the placenta as well has metabolic plus endocrine action. It produces, amongst supplementary hormones, progesterone, which is significant in maintaining the pregnancy; which acts to increase the quantity of glucose and lipids in the motherly blood; estrogen; relaxin, and HCG. This results in increased transfer of these nutrients to the child and is also the main cause of the greater than before blood sugar levels seen in pregnancy. The site of the past umbilical cord accessory in the hub of the front of the stomach is identified as the umbilicus, navel, or belly-button.

The villi and the uterine wall in which they are embedded make up the placenta. Thus the placenta is formed partly from the embryonic tissue and partly from the uterine wall. The placenta allows:
1. Dissolved food substances (e.g. glucose, amino acids, and mineral salts) and oxygen to diffuse from the mother's blood into that of the embryo.
2. Metabolic waste products (e.g. urea and carbon dioxide) to diffuse from the embryonic blood capillaries into the mother's blood stream.
3. Antibodies to diffuse from the mothers blood into the embryonic blood capillaries. The antibodies protect the embryo against certain diseases.

The embryo is attached to the placenta by a tube known as the umbilical cord which contains the blood vessel of the embryo. It contains two umbilical arteries that carry deoxygenated blood from the unborn mammalian to the placenta. It also contains one umbilical vein that transports oxygenated blood and food substance from the placenta to the unborn mammalian. When the main organs of the embryo have been formed the young mammal is known as a "foetus". The "foetus" continues to grow in the uterus. At the end of nine months of pregnancy the baby is fully formed and is ready to be born.

This is a round, flat organ fastened to the womb wall that, as we shall see, performs amazing functions. As the placenta is forming, blood "islands" appear in the body stalk and the soft lining. Around these islands vascular walls soon appear. The baby's own circulatory system is formed. By the end of the first month the embryo has simple kidneys, a digestive tract, a liver, a bloodstream and a heart—a small you-shaped tube two millimeters (about one tenth of an inch) long. Thus the circulatory systems of mother and baby are entirely separate and are never directly mixed.

In the few months that it is active the placenta does a stupendous work indeed. From its formation early in the gestation period until birth the baby is wholly dependent on the placenta for oxygen, nourishment and a host of other things. At four months the placenta is a little over three inches in diameter. By the time of birth, it has an eight-inch diameter and weighs about a pound. At birth it becomes detached from the lining of the uterus, to be discarded. For this reason it is sometimes called the "afterbirth."

Obtain nutrients, oxygen, antibodies and hormones as of the mother's blood and passes away throw away.