In Vitro Culturing of Human Term Placental Explants

Methods Mol Biol. 2024:2781:39-45. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3746-3_4.

Abstract

The study of the human placenta has always been appealing, given the importance of this temporal organ capable of sustaining the beginning of life and development of a new human being within the womb. Culturing placental explants has been an easy and reliable method to study some placental morphological, biochemical, and physiological features for a very long time. Besides low time consumption, requirement of few resources, and wide versatility, the placental explant in vitro culture retains cell-cell interaction in a 3D structure resembling the in vivo setting, which is why it is the option of choice for many researchers in the field. This chapter will describe a simplified method for culturing explants from human term placentas.

Keywords: Explant culture; Human placenta; Placental villi.

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Humans
  • Placenta*
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Trimester, First