The placenta is the nutritive organ for the human fetus. It plays multiple roles in protecting the pregnancy from pathogens, producing the right endocrine milieu, supplying nutrients, and removing ...

The placenta has long been thought to produce serotonin during pregnancy. But in a new study, Yale researchers shatter the deep-rooted hypothesis—and show that the placenta doesn't produce serotonin ...

An important cancer-related gene may play a critical role in the development of the placenta, the organ that controls nutrient and oxygen exchange between a mother and her fetus during pregnancy, and ...

Pregnancy is often described as a miracle, and that is indeed true. Inside you, a new life develops with the support of an extraordinary organ, i.e., the placenta. But what makes this organ function ...

The amount of nutrients transported to the fetus by the placenta adjusts according to both the fetal drive for growth, and the mother's physical ability to provide, new research suggests. New research ...

I am not the first person who has considered composing poetry to the placenta. One writer begins: “Oh Lady Placenta! What a life you lived in magenta.” Another almost coos to the “constant companion, ...

For most people, the placenta is simply viewed as a temporary organ that supports a baby during pregnancy and is discarded after delivery. However, modern medicine has begun to recognize that the ...

After giving birth, some women save the placenta in order to consume it in the following weeks. In fact, Texas just passed a law giving women the right to take the placenta home from the hospital, the ...