Library · Anatomy
Placenta
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The placenta is a temporary organ made from both fetal and maternal tissue. Picture a border designed for exchange, where two streams of blood pass very close to each other without mixing directly. Oxygen and nutrients move toward the fetal circulation, while carbon dioxide and wastes move back toward the maternal circulation.
The placenta also supports nutrition, excretion, and gas exchange and produces hormones involved in maintaining pregnancy and development.
In brief
The placenta is a temporary organ formed from tissues derived from the embryo and from maternal endometrial tissue. It brings the fetal circulation close to a surface bathed in maternal blood and supports nutrition, gas exchange, waste removal, and hormone production.
Oxygen and nutrients cross the exchange surface into fetal blood, while carbon dioxide and wastes move in the opposite direction. The two circulations come very close within the placenta, but maternal and fetal blood do not mix directly.
A boundary built for exchange.
Sources (1)
- OpenStax, Rice University28.2 Embryonic DevelopmentPublished
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