Impact of maternal diabetes type 1 on proliferative potential, differentiation and apoptotic activity in villous capillaries of term placenta.

Introduction: Maternal diabetes mellitus changes morphology and impairs function of placental capillaries. Here, quantitative parameters characterizing cell proliferation using detection of Ki67, differentiation reflected by nestin expression and apoptosis in placental capillary bed with active caspase 3 as a marker were compared in normal term placentas and placentas from pregnancies complicated by Type 1 maternal diabetes mellitus.

Methods: Specimens of sixteen diabetic placentas and eight control placentas were collected by systematic uniform random sampling.

Topological properties and spatial organization of villous capillaries in normal and diabetic placentas.

Spatial arrangement and complexity of the capillary bed of placental terminal villi were analyzed in 9 normal and 11 diabetic placentas. Specimens were taken by systematic random sampling, fixed and stained in toto, and embedded in paraffin. Fifteen fields of view were sampled systematically from 120-microm-thick sections of specimens and examined using a confocal laser scanning microscope.