[Placental ultrastructure in women with impaired glucose tolerance during pregnancy]

Ultrastructure of the placenta in women with disturbed glucose tolerance, detected during pregnancy, was found to differ from that in healthy women after precipitate spontaneous labor. The principal distinctions were signs appearing at the subcellular level of slower trophoblastic maturation and enhancement of the active forms of placental transport function at the end of pregnancy. Changes of placental ultrastructure cannot be regarded as specific for diabetes mellitus, for they may be observed in other pathologic conditions of the mother and fetus as well and are probably related to trophoblast hypoxia.