Abstract
Objective: Our purpose was to determine the maternal and fetal polymorphonuclear contributions to preterm histologic chorioamnionitis and whether this response differs in clinical chorioamnionitis when compared to cases without clinical chorioamnionitis.
Methods: Paraffin placenta blocks from 19 preterm deliveries with histologic chorioamnionitis, 9 with clinical chorioamnionitis and 10 without clinical chorioamnionitis, were identified. Only placentas from male fetuses were used. Cytospin slides were generated from tissue specimens for fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and labeled with X and Y chromosome probes. Under fluorescent microscopy, polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs) were identified as having two XX signals (maternal) or a single X and Y pair (fetal).
Results: Maternal PMNs comprised 89% and 91% of the cellular response in the groups with and without clinical chorioaminionitis, respectively. This difference in the two groups was not statistically significant.
Conclusions: The dominant contribution of PMNs seen in preterm severe histologic chorioamnionitis is maternal in origin. This response is similar in the presence or absence of clinical chorioamnionitis.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.5 MB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Chellam V. G., Rushton D. I. Chorioamnionitis and funiculitis in the placentas of 200 births weighing less than 2.5 kg. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1985 Aug;92(8):808–814. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1985.tb03050.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cowles T. A., Elder F. F., Taylor S. Identification of abnormal chromosomal complement in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded placental tissue. Prenat Diagn. 1995 Jan;15(1):21–26. doi: 10.1002/pd.1970150106. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Guzick D. S., Winn K. The association of chorioamnionitis with preterm delivery. Obstet Gynecol. 1985 Jan;65(1):11–16. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mueller-Heubach E., Rubinstein D. N., Schwarz S. S. Histologic chorioamnionitis and preterm delivery in different patient populations. Obstet Gynecol. 1990 Apr;75(4):622–626. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Redline R. W., Patterson P. Villitis of unknown etiology is associated with major infiltration of fetal tissue by maternal inflammatory cells. Am J Pathol. 1993 Aug;143(2):473–479. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Romero R., Mazor M. Infection and preterm labor. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 1988 Sep;31(3):553–584. doi: 10.1097/00003081-198809000-00006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zlatnik F. J., Gellhaus T. M., Benda J. A., Koontz F. P., Burmeister L. F. Histologic chorioamnionitis, microbial infection, and prematurity. Obstet Gynecol. 1990 Sep;76(3 Pt 1):355–359. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]