Transport and barrier function in the chorioallantoic placenta of the bat, Myotis lucifugus.

Abstract

AbstractThe chorioallantoic placenta of the bat (Myotis lucifugus) is hemodichorial and has an ectoplasmic layer and an intrasyncytial lamina interposed between the maternal blood space and the underlying endoplasmic portion of the syncytial trophoblast. The barrier and/or transport function of the trophoblast of this species was investigated. When Thorotrast was injected into the maternal vascular system, only small amounts appeared in the trophoblast, and it could not be demonstrated deep to the syncytial trophoblast.Injected peroxidase and ferritin were both rapidly taken up by the trophoblast, these tracers being found in coated vesicles and tubules, in multivesicular bodies, and in dense bodies. Peroxidase was transported across the trophoblast and could be found in macrophages in the fetal connective tissue and in vesicles in the fetal endothelium. Since ferritin is present in the cytotrophoblast, macrophages and fetal endothelium in uninjected as well as injected animals, the exogenous material could not be followed beyond the syncytium. In addition to demonstrating the cytological pathway by which absorbed proteins cross the trophoblast of the chorioallantoic placenta of the bat, the results of this study suggest that the labyrinth in this species should be considered a possible route for passage of endogenous proteins to the fetus.