Intussusceptive Growth of Vascular Bed in Human Placenta

Objective: Normal embryonic and fetal development is strictly bound to maternal health and functioning placenta. Besides the invasion and differentiation of trophoblastic cell lineage; development of effective vasculature is crucial for the function of placenta. Placental vessels first arise by vasculogenesis in early development of villi and then succeeded by angiogenesis during fetal life. In the recent decades a new form of angiogenesis, "intussusceptive angiogenesis", besides classical sprouting angiogenesis is well documented. The presence of intussusception was shown at multiple organs but in placenta, in recent literature. We aimed to determine whether intussusceptive angiogenesis is present in human placenta to obtain further evidence on the development of vascular bed. Methods: The term placenta samples were obtained from 10 healthy pregnancies following caesarean sections. Tissues were processed using routine plastic embedding technique; thin sections were contrasted with uranyl acetate & lead citrate; observed and photographed by transmission electron microscope. Results: Our examinations revealed that both sprouting and intussusceptive angiogenesis is present in floating villi of term placenta. Phases of intussusception were documented in various samples. Conclusion: The presence of intussusceptive angiogenesis will help our understanding of microvascular bed remodeling during pregnancy. We believe that this new finding will help us to determine the relation of microvascular bed development in normal and abnormal placentas.