In Vitro Modeling of the Human Placental Barrier

The placenta plays a key role in maintaining pregnancy, performing many vital functions, including nutrient transport, gas exchange, removal of metabolic products, and defense against pathogens. The development of in vitro models of the placenta is an important step in improving our understanding of the mechanisms regulating its functions and the pathologies associated with the disruption of these processes. The placenta is a unique organ that develops only during pregnancy and acts as a barrier between maternal and fetal blood. This barrier provides not only physical but also biochemical protection of the fetus from unfavorable environmental influences and pathogens transmitted through the mother's blood. However, various pathological conditions, such as pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth retardation, may be associated with abnormalities in the functioning of the placental barrier. One of the most important challenges of modern biomedicine is the development of methods that allow the in vitro modeling of placental function with high accuracy. Microfluidic technologies using microfluidic chips provide a unique opportunity to create such models, which allow the reproduction of physiological conditions in vivo and the study of processes at the cellular level under controlled laboratory conditions. These technologies enable the simulation of the dynamic environment of the placenta, including perfusion, shear stress, and metabolism, which is important for studying processes such as glucose transport and response to hypoxia. Hypoxia, or oxygen deficiency, is one of the key factors affecting placental development and leading to pregnancy complications. Hypoxic conditions during the early stages of placental development can significantly affect trophoblast cell invasion and differentiation, which is important for the formation and function of the placental barrier. Modeling hypoxic conditions in vitro using microfluidic chips allows us to study the effect of hypoxia at the cellular level, which may contribute to the development of new methods of diagnosis and treatment of pre-eclampsia and other hypoxia-related complications of pregnancy.