Uptake and storage of Thorotrast by the rodent yolk sac placenta: an electron microscopic study.

Abstract

AbstractElectron microscopy was used to investigate the uptake and storage of electrondense particulate matter by the rodent yolk sac placenta. Pregnant hamsters were given single intra‐uterine injections of Thorotrast on day 13, 14 or 15 of gestation and killed at intervals between 15 minutes and 48 hours thereafter. Electron microscopic examination of yolk sacs removed from the injected animals revealed the rapid and progressive uptake of the tracer particles by the visceral epithelial cells of these fetal membranes. Pinocytic vacuoles (phagosomes) containing Thorotrast were visible in the apical cytoplasm of epithelial cells as early as 15 minutes after injection and became increasingly abundant in these cells at later post‐injection intervals up to 18 hours. Epithelial cells which became fully engorged with Thorotrast vacuoles exhibited various pathologic changes, possibly caused by the interference of the metabolically inert metal particles with intracellular digestive mechanisms (the lysosome system). There was no evidence, however, of transport of Thorotrast particles through or between the yolk sac epithelial cells. The connective tissue spaces and blood vessels of the yolk sac, as well as underlying fetal compartments, were free of the tracer particles at all observed intervals after injection.