Abstract
All vertebrates have extraembryonic tissues known as placental membranes. In humans they are composed of the so-called reflected membranes and those of the chorionic plate on the placental disc. Although the membranes are usually seen as a placental appendage, they are distinct from the chorion frondosum, which is the actual hemochorionic placental mass. Their origin along with their structural and functional complexity has recently been receiving considerable attention mainly because of an interest in the composition of the various extracellular connective tissue components and due to the stem cell properties of their epithelial and stromal cells. Although molecular mechanisms regulating trophectoderm and inner cell mass differentiation are beginning to be known, our understanding of cell fate decisions during human embryonic development still remains limited. In addition to the chorion and amnion, there is a third component of the membranes – the mesodermal derivatives, which form the middle aspect of the placental membranes.
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de Sousa Barros, J.J. (2015). Embryology and Anatomy of Placental Membranes. In: Mamede, A., Botelho, M. (eds) Amniotic Membrane. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9975-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9975-1_1
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