Placental fine structure after experimental embryonic death in cows

Abstract

Early embryonic death was experimentally induced by amnion rupture in pregnant heifers. The subsequent morphological alterations in the placenta were studied with light and electron microscopy, histochemical tests and electron microscope microanalysis. The material from the treated heifers differed from that inuntreated cows in the following aspects: the fetal-maternal junction was firm; many endometrial epithelial cells were desquamated and the remaining epithelium showed vacuolization or depletion of organelles; the trophoblast remained at the preattachment stage in its marked phagocytic activity and accumulation of lipid and glycogen, and many of the organelles were degenerated; and the mesenchyme contained extracellular deposits of iron and calcium. It is believed that the changes observed were caused by interruption of the fetal circulation followed by an accumulation of metabolic products.