Fine structural observations on hemopoiesis in the chorioallantoic placenta of the marmoset

Hemopoietic sinuses in the chorionic trabeculae of marmoset placenta were examined electron microscopically at several stages of pregnancy. Tissues were prepared both by standard technique and following injection of exogenous peroxidase into the maternal circulation prior to autopsy, and subsequent cytochemical localization of its reaction product in the fetal placenta. Aside from their dilated size and cellular content, the sinuses resembled the allantoic capillaries of the peripheral umbilical circulation in this species; and in early and midgestational placentas, sinusal lumina, differentiating elements in the erythroid line were present in placentas at all stages. Such cells appeared to arise both by a process of proliferation of undifferentiated progenitors from the sinusal lining and by mitosis of pre-existing erythroid cells. Only the latter process was observed in the mature placenta near term. Granulopoiesis was not observed at any stage; on the other hand, cells in the thromboid line were identified in placentas believed to be near midgestation; and large intrasinusal phagocytes were present in both midgestational and late placentas. In the latter, they were seen to have endocytosed peroxidase, and, by tenuous, dendriform processes, to be related anatomically to large numbers of erythroid cells. Early in gestation, the developing erythroid elements were closely related by areas of contact, both to each other and to the delimiting endothelium of the sinuses.