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Cellular and subcellular localization of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase activity
S Matsubara1, H Minakami, T Takayama
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jichi Medical School, Tochigi, Japan.
Objective:
To determine the cellular and subcellular distribution of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d) in the human placenta and thereby to shed light on the possible role of nitric oxide (NO) and NO synthase in this tissue.
Methods:
NADPH-d activity in 10 term placenta and in 10 first-trimester placentas was examined by enzyme histochemistry and by both light microscopy and electron microscopy.
Results:
Light microscopy revealed that NADPH-d activity was marked in the syncytiotrophoblasts, moderate in the endothelium of cord vessels, and weak in the amniotic epithelia and chorionic trophoblasts. At the electron-microscopic level, NADPH-d activity was apparent as small patches distributed throughout the cytoplasm of the syncytiotrophoblasts.
Conclusion:
NO might be generated in the syncytiotrophoblast of the human placenta and might play a role in the regulation of placental hemodynamics or in the signaling between the syncytium and the villous mesenchyme.