Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2016 Apr 26;7:152. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2016.00152

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

Copyright © 2016 Maliqueo, Echiburú and Crisosto.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

PMC Copyright notice

Placental angiogenesis during early pregnancy. The reaction of decidualization of stromal endometrial cells promotes the migration of extravillous cytotrophoblasts (EVT) across the decidua to reach the endothelial cells of the terminal segments of the uterine arteries occluding their lumen, which restricts the blood flow into the intervillous space and leads to reduced oxygen concentrations. Moreover, EVT remodel uterine spiral arterioles to increase maternal blood flow. On the other hand, trophoblastic cells, Hofbaur cells (Hc), and maternal decidual cells secrete VEGF, thus promoting angiogenesis. In addition, trophoblasts increase NOS activity, thus stimulating nitric oxide (NO) production and vasodilatation.