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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Human Placental and Decidual Organ Cultures to Study Infections at the Maternal-fetal Interface
Published on: July 21, 2016
[The macrophages in the placenta during labor]
Júlio Augusto Gurgel Alves1, Lilia Maria Carneiro Câmara, Fabrício da Silva Costa
1Maternidade Escola Assis Chateaubriand, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brasil. juliogurgel@oi.com.br
Purpose:
to verify the amount of CD68+ cells in chorionic villosities in placentae from gestations submitted or not to labor.
Methods:
transversal study with healthy near-term pregnant women, among whose placentae, 31 have been examined by immunohistochemical technique. Twenty placentae were obtained after vaginal delivery (VAGG) and eleven after elective cesarean sections (CESG). Slides were prepared with chorionic villosities samples and labeled with anti-CD68 antibody, specific for macrophages. Labeled and nonlabeled cells were counted inside the villosities. Non-parametric statistical tests were used for the analysis.
Results:
among the 6,424 cells counted in the villosities' stroma from the 31 placentae, 1,135 cells (17.6%) were stained by the CD68+. The mean of cells labeled by the anti-CD68 was 22+/-18 for the VAGG group and 20+/-16 for the CESG, in each placentary sample.
Conclusions:
there were no significant differences in the percentage of macrophages (CD68+) in association with labor.
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