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Updated: Jul 8, 2026
Human Placental and Decidual Organ Cultures to Study Infections at the Maternal-fetal Interface
Published on: July 21, 2016
Detection of bacteria in placental tissues obtained from extremely low gestational age neonates
Andrew B Onderdonk1, Mary L Delaney, Andrea M DuBois
1Harvard Medical School and the Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Objective:
The objective of the study was to quantify and identify aerobic and anaerobic bacteria as well as Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma in the chorionic parenchyma.
Study Design:
A sample of the chorionic parenchyma from neonates delivered between 23-27 completed weeks was cultured and tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods using universal bacterial primers for the presence of bacteria and mycoplasmas.
Results:
The culture positive rate was higher for vaginal deliveries (333/489; 68%) than for cesarean sections (363/876; 41%). Thirty percent of all culture-positive samples had only aerobic bacteria, 21% of the samples had only anaerobic bacteria, and 9% of the samples had only Mycoplasma/Ureaplasma. The mean concentration of Mycoplasma/Ureaplasma (4.00 +/- 1.11 log10 CFU/g) was significantly higher (P < .001) than the total count of either aerobes (3.24 +/- 1.12 log10 CFU/g) or anaerobes (2.89 +/- 0.99 log10 CFU/g). Staphylococcus sp. and Corynebacterium sp. as well as organisms associated with bacterial vaginosis were the most frequently recovered. A PCR product was not detected from either randomly selected or known culture-positive samples.
Conclusion:
Approximately half of second-trimester placentas harbor organisms within the chorionic plate. The chorion parenchyma appears to harbor constituents that prevent the identification of bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid by PCR methods.
