Human Primary Trophoblast Cell Culture Model to Study the Protective Effects of Melatonin Against Hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced Disruption.

This protocol describes how villous cytotrophoblast cells are isolated from placentas at term by successive enzymatic digestions, followed by density centrifugation, media gradient isolation and immunomagnetic purification. As observed in vivo, mononucleated villous cytotrophoblast cells in primary culture differentiate into multinucleated syncytiotrophoblast cells after 72 hr. Compared to normoxia (8% O2), villous cytotrophoblast cells that undergo hypoxia/reoxygenation (0.

Melatonin in Pregnancy: Effects on Brain Development and CNS Programming Disorders.

Melatonin is an important neuroprotective factor and its receptors are expressed in the fetal brain. During normal pregnancy, maternal melatonin level increases progressively until term and is highly transferred to the fetus, with an important role in brain formation and differentiation. Maternal melatonin provides the first circadian signal to the fetus.