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[Microscopic detection of lipids in placenta and umbilical cord blood (author's transl)]
Lipid droplets, between 0.5 and 1.0 microns in size, were recorded by means of optical light microscopy from syncytiotrophoblast, villous stroma, and villous vessels in the full-term human placenta. Their distribution patterns varied greatly in different sections of the villous tree. -- Lipid droplets were recorded also from a thick smear in arterial and venous umbilical cord blood, following haemolysis and concentration of haemolysate. They resembled chylomicrons. -- Histochemical assays have shown the droplets to consist of triglycerides and a cover of phospholipids, quite often visible, sometimes even of a mixture of triglycerides and phospholipids. Some of the droplets, which were located in the villous stroma, seemed to consist of phospholipids only. -- The conclusion drawn from morphological findings is that triglycerides in the form of chylomicrons are absorbed through endocytosis from maternal blood, before they traverse the syncytium to penetrate the embryonic vascular system. Phospholipids are thought to be admixed in that phase. Some of the phospholipid droplets are actually formed in the syncytium.
Lipid droplets, between 0.5 and 1.0 microns in size, were recorded by means of optical light microscopy from syncytiotrophoblast, villous stroma, and villous vessels in the full-term human placenta. Their distribution patterns varied greatly in different sections of the villous tree. -- Lipid droplets were recorded also from a thick smear in arterial and venous umbilical cord blood, following haemolysis and concentration of haemolysate. They resembled chylomicrons. -- Histochemical assays have shown the droplets to consist of triglycerides and a cover of phospholipids, quite often visible, sometimes even of a mixture of triglycerides and phospholipids. Some of the droplets, which were located in the villous stroma, seemed to consist of phospholipids only. -- The conclusion drawn from morphological findings is that triglycerides in the form of chylomicrons are absorbed through endocytosis from maternal blood, before they traverse the syncytium to penetrate the embryonic vascular system. Phospholipids are thought to be admixed in that phase. Some of the phospholipid droplets are actually formed in the syncytium.