Apoptosis in human term placenta. A morphological and gene expression study.

The objective of this study was to examine placentas after delivery from normal, healthy patients at term gestation. The placentas were from elective cesarean sections (n = 10, prior to the onset of labor) and spontaneous vaginal delivery (n = 10, after labor). We found that deoxyribonucleic acid laddering was present in all placentas and consistent with the pattern found in tissues that undergo apoptosis. Paraffin-embedded sections of placental villi stained by the in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated biotinylated dUTP nick end labeling method revealed positive apoptotic nuclei in the placental villi. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction demonstrated expression of messenger RNA for testosterone-repressed prostate message 2 and B cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 in the placenta. Our data demonstrate that apoptosis occurs in human term placenta. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.