[A morphological study on the placenta in toxemia of pregnancy]

The morphological changes in 64 placentas in toxemia of pregnancy were studied by means of histological (HE, Azan and PAM stains) and morphometrical methods. The author tried to compare these results with inter-typical differences in toxemia classified into H, P and PH type according to the main symptoms, and examined the influence of these results on fetal development. The histological findings were as follows: In comparison with the inter-typical differences, fibrin deposition, damaged basement membrane and swelling of the endothelial cells of villous capillaries were conspicuous in P and PH types. However, prominent syncytial knots, stromal fibrosis and villous atrophies were main findings in H type. The morphometrical findings were as follows: On evaluation of the results of the point count method, both the intervillous space and the volume of the terminal villi decreased in proportion to the degree of toxemia. On evaluation of the results obtained with the Digigramer-G (Mutoh Kohgyo Co. Ltd., Tokyo), the cross-sectional area of terminal villus, the area of the capillary lumina and the number of capillaries per villus showed the same tendency as the results obtained with the point count method. Thus the severity of morphological changes in the toxemic placenta correlated with the extent of fetal development.