Paracellular pathways in the haemotrichorial placenta of the rat were studied by electron microscopy using lanthanum hydroxide as an electron dense marker. Near term placentae were dually perfused in situ, adding lanthanum to the fetal perfusate. In some placentae outflow pressure on the fetal side was elevated (between 10 and 25 cm H(2)O) to promote filtration of fluid in a fetomaternal direction. Under normal pressure conditions lanthanum particles lined the subendothelial spaces and tubular structures in the inner, syncytial layer of trophoblast. Further penetration of lanthanum into the tubules was blocked by coarse lanthanum aggregates. Elevated fetal hydrostatic pressure resulted in a fluid shift across the placenta (filtration rate 50+/-16 per cent of fetal arterial inflow rate), distending the tubules in the inner trophoblast layer. Lanthanum particles gradually appeared in tubular structures in the middle (syncytial) layer and in the lateral intercellular spaces in the outer (cellular) layer. Finally lanthanum reached the maternal surface of the trophoblast. These pressure effects were only partially reversible. When the fetal pressure was returned to control values, some distension of the tubules persisted and the entire length of the paracellular pathways remained accessible to lanthanum. It is concluded that the placental barrier in the rat contains pressure dependent paracellular pathways connecting the maternal and fetal extracellular compartments.
Copyright 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.