The placenta and its mission in pregnancy

By living close to a pregnancy is easy to hear about the placenta. We know that she is in charge of making a pregnancy come to fruition, but what is it and what is its function? The placenta is the organ in charge of the vital support of the baby before birth. Your work is fundamental, since Through the placenta the fetus is nourished, breathed and excreted.

The placenta, word whose origin comes from Latin and which means cake or cake, due to its shape, is an organ that begins to form a week after the pregnancy has occurred: during the implantation of the embryo in the uterine wall. So that, It is made up of the same baby cells.


In the first months of pregnancy, the placenta is not yet formed and it is the endometrium that is responsible for caring for the embryo. From the fourth month of gestation, the placenta will be responsible for nourishing the fetus autonomously.

The placenta has two sides: a first side, the maternal side, which is firmly attached to the inner wall of the mother's uterus and composed of her blood, which contains oxygen and nutrients that the baby needs to survive; the other side, the fetal side, is positioned in front of the baby and is formed by hundreds of intercrossed blood vessels.

The aging of the placenta in pregnancy

How all organ, the placenta is born, grows and dies. The duration of the placenta usually does not end before the birth occurs. However, in some cases where the expected date of birth is exceeded, this aging may arise, which will cause the functions of nourishing and protecting the baby to be diminished. Anyway, the aging of the placenta is normalIn the event that the baby is not being fed properly, doctors may consider inducing labor.


Functions of the placenta during pregnancy

- Transmit nutrients to the baby. The placenta acts as a messenger between the maternal side and the fetal side, that is, it helps to carry out the transfer of oxygen and the feeding of nutrients from the mother to the blood vessels of the baby through the umbilical cord.

- Waste disposal. The baby transfers the waste products it produces to the mother, since it can not eliminate them on its own because its organs are still immature. So, the placenta acts as a filter responsible for keeping harmful substances away from the baby's organic system.

-Immunological tolerance. The placenta helps to "hide" the baby from the mother's immune system and thus prevent rejection. If not, the immune system would activate its antibodies and defense cells against the baby.


- Hormonal support. Another of its functions is the manufacture of hormones. Offers hormonal support throughout pregnancy. Among them chorionic gonadotropin, which is what allows pregnancy to take its course. As a curiosity, this is the hormone that is measured in pregnancy tests. It also synthesizes estrogen that fulfills the important function of helping the implantation of the embryo, the development of the breast and placental lactogen, which controls the maternal metabolism and stimulates the growth of the baby.

- Protection. The placenta ensures that the baby does not absorb any kind of waste or chemical substance from the mother's blood. So the fetus will be protected during the time that your immune system is not yet developed. Despite its filtering capacity, the placenta will not be able to provide protection against products such as: cigarette smoke, alcohol, certain medications.

- Source of information. Once the baby is born, the placenta has already fulfilled its function and, in general, is expelled after a few minutes. In the event that your baby has certain complications, such as a stunted growth or an infection, the placenta can be sent to the laboratory to perform an analysis and identify the cause of the problem.

Noelia de Santiago Monteserín

Video: Meet the placenta! | Reproductive system physiology | NCLEX-RN | Khan Academy


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