Figure 2.

The human placental explant is an efficient culture system, and it responds to hypoxic stimuli, as occurs in human preeclampsia disease. Human villous explant preparations were subjected to normoxia (10% O₂) (A–D) or hypoxia (2% O₂) (E–H) for 24 h. HIF1A expression was increased after hypoxic exposure (E) compared to a normoxic state (A). The explant preparations were co-stained with CK8 (trophoblast epithelial marker) (C,G), indicating that the majority of HIF1A localizes to syncytiotrophoblast cells. Counterstaining: DAPI (D,H), blue nuclear staining).