#decidua

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Maternal Protection

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections don’t usually cause trouble in healthy adults. But in pregnant women, they can prove fatal for the foetus. The physical interface between mother and foetus, the placenta, can help defend against infection. Researchers investigate how using organoids, lab-grown tissues developed from human placenta, which mimic the trophoblast, which originates from the embryo and the decidua, which originates from the mother – both structures implicated in immunity. Trophoblast organoids (TOs) and decidua organoids (DOs, pictured, using fluorescence microscopy) both release immune factors even in the absence of infection, with TOs releasing an antiviral chemical. Infecting both types of organoid with fluorescently-tagged HCMV, revealed DOs had high levels of infection while TOs didn't. Infecting the organoids grown together showed that chemicals from TOs reduced HCMV levels in the DOs. These organoids can help future studies into maternal-foetal infections.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Image from work by Liheng Yang and colleagues

Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in eLife, August 2022

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Welcome Changes

During the earliest days of pregnancy, tissues in the uterus change, becoming more hospitable for the embryo – a process known as decidualization. In these rat uteruses a chemical called Menin-1, ‘switches on’ in different areas (highlighted in purple): prior to the embryo implanting (top left and middle) then later surrounding the outline of the implanted embryo (bottom row). Menin-1 changes the uterus cells’ epigenetics – chemicals that float around the DNA, affecting which genes can be accessed. This helps to ‘reprogramme’ the uterine cells, controlling growth factors to steady the pace of developments in the uterus. With this new window into early pregnancy, future research may look into ways to help human Menin-1 in its vital role and improve fertility.

Written by John Ankers

Image from work by Mengying Liu and Wenbo Deng, and colleagues

Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Communications, February 2022

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Life’s First Hurdle

For a successful pregnancy, there are thousands of steps that need to go right, but one of the earliest hurdles is embryo implantation where the fertilised egg needs to grab onto the lining of the uterus so it can start to adapt for pregnancy. Any mistakes in this process result in a failed pregnancy. In fact, approximately 75% of failed pregnancies are linked to defects in this implantation stage, and unfortunately, we know little about how this process works. Shp2 is a protein that becomes increasingly abundant as embryos implant into the uterine lining. Researchers discovered in mice that a lack of Shp2 (bottom row) resulted in a smaller size of implantation site (the central circular shape), which ultimately meant that the embryo couldn’t survive. For women who suffer from recurring early pregnancy loss, Shp2 may be a critical target to not only more effectively diagnose but also treat those with infertility issues.

Written by Sophie Arthur

Image from work by Jianghong Cheng, Jia Liang and Yingzhe Li, and colleagues

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in PLOS Genetics, January 2022

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Early Invasion

There’s more to making a baby than embryonic cells. This image shows a cross-section through a mouse’s womb, around halfway through pregnancy. The bright green speckles are stem cells that originally came from the bone marrow but have been recruited into a tissue known as the decidua, which plays a vital role in helping the developing foetus to implant into the womb and supports it as it grows. These bone marrow cells were already known to transform into blood or other tissues, but this is the first time they've been shown to have a role during pregnancy. Mice with a faulty version of a gene that's active in bone marrow cells are unable to become pregnant but can conceive after receiving a bone marrow transplant from unaffected mice. The results may help to explain why some women have recurrent miscarriages and point to potential ways to save these pregnancies in the future.

Written by Kat Arney

Image from work by Reshef Tal and colleagues

Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)

Published in PLOS Biology, September 2019

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Harvest Witch Decidua's lil cottage in Gilded Oaks

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Mélèze (larix decidua) aux couleurs d’automne

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 FICA A DICA:

A partir da erupção do primeiro dente decíduo, a higiene oral do bebê deve ser intensificada, incluindo o acompanhamento de um dentista. Isso porque o esmalte dos dentes decíduos é mais fino e o consumo de alimentos açucarados, como o leite de mamadeira, atrelado a higienização inadequada pode aumentar o risco maior de desenvolvimento da chamada “cárie da mamadeira”, uma forma comum de cárie em crianças de até 3 anos de idade.

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Importância da Dentição Decídua

O que poucos sabem é que os dentes decíduos, mesmo com raízes curtas e finas para que possam cair em poucos anos, têm um papel fundamental no desenvolvimento do indivíduo, pois influencia no processo de aprendizagem fala, mastigação e nutrição, e também por reservar espaço para os futuros 32 dentes permanentes.