Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period.
The second episode in our pregnancy series kicks off with a tribute to one of the most amazing organs: the placenta. We trace the evolutionary origins of the human placenta and examine how this organ allows for such an intimate and delicately balanced relationship between mother and fetus, as well as what can happen if that balance is disrupted. We then turn towards the pregnant person, exploring the broad physiological changes that happen body system by body system throughout pregnancy. Why do you pee so much? Feel nauseous? Have high blood pressure? We get into it all.
| History | Biology |
| Power, Michael L., and Jay Schulkin. The evolution of the human placenta. JHU Press, 2012. | Xiao, J., Li, Z., Song, Y., Sun, Y., Shi, H., Chen, D. and Zhang, Y., 2021. Molecular pathogenesis of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy. Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2021(1), p.6679322. |
| Loke, Yung W. Life’s vital link: the astonishing role of the placenta. Oxford University Press, USA, 2013. | Tan, E.K. and Tan, E.L., 2013. Alterations in physiology and anatomy during pregnancy. Best practice & research Clinical obstetrics & gynaecology, 27(6), pp.791-802. |
| Chuong, Edward B. “Retroviruses facilitate the rapid evolution of the mammalian placenta.” Bioessays 35.10 (2013): 853-861. | Sweeting, A., Hannah, W., Backman, H., Catalano, P., Feghali, M., Herman, W.H., Hivert, M.F., Immanuel, J., Meek, C., Oppermann, M.L. and Nolan, C.J., 2024. Epidemiology and management of gestational diabetes. The Lancet, 404(10448), pp.175-192. |
| Chuong, Edward B. “The placenta goes viral: Retroviruses control gene expression in pregnancy.” PLoS biology 16.10 (2018): e3000028. | McIntyre, H.D., Catalano, P., Zhang, C., Desoye, G., Mathiesen, E.R. and Damm, P., 2019. Gestational diabetes mellitus. Nature reviews Disease primers, 5(1), p.47. |
| Costanzo, Vincenzo, et al. “Exploring the links between cancer and placenta development.” Open biology 8.6 (2018): 180081. | American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2020. Gestational hypertension and preeclampsia: ACOG practice bulletin, number 222. Obstet Gynecol, 135(6), pp.e237-e260. |
| Crosley, E. J., et al. “Placental invasion, preeclampsia risk and adaptive molecular evolution at the origin of the great apes: evidence from genome-wide analyses.” Placenta 34.2 (2013): 127-132. | Williamson, C. and Geenes, V., 2014. Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 124(1), pp.120-133. |
| De Witt, Foster. “An historical study on theories of the placenta to 1900.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (1959): 360-374. | MacDonald, T.M., Walker, S.P., Hannan, N.J., Tong, S. and Tu’uhevaha, J., 2022. Clinical tools and biomarkers to predict preeclampsia. EBioMedicine, 75. |
| Denner, Joachim. “Expression and function of endogenous retroviruses in the placenta.” Apmis 124.1-2 (2016): 31-43. | Chesnutt, A.N., 2004. Physiology of normal pregnancy. Critical care clinics, 20(4), pp.609-615. |
| Elliot, Michael G. “Oxidative stress and the evolutionary origins of preeclampsia.” Journal of reproductive immunology 114 (2016): 75-80. | Mockridge, A. and Maclennan, K., 2019. Physiology of pregnancy. Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine, 20(7), pp.397-401. |
| Elliot, Michael G., and Bernard J. Crespi. “Genetic recapitulation of human pre-eclampsia risk during convergent evolution of reduced placental invasiveness in eutherian mammals.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 370.1663 (2015): 20140069. | Hauspurg, A. and Jeyabalan, A., 2022. Postpartum preeclampsia or eclampsia: defining its place and management among the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 226(2), pp.S1211-S1221. |
| Erez, Offer, et al. “Preeclampsia and eclampsia: the conceptual evolution of a syndrome.” American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 226.2 (2022): S786-S803. | Chappell, L.C., Cluver, C.A. and Tong, S., 2021. Pre-eclampsia. The Lancet, 398(10297), pp.341-354. |
| Haig, David. “Maternal–fetal conflict, genomic imprinting and mammalian vulnerabilities to cancer.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 370.1673 (2015): 20140178. | Dimitriadis, E., Rolnik, D.L., Zhou, W., Estrada-Gutierrez, G., Koga, K., Francisco, R.P., Whitehead, C., Hyett, J., da Silva Costa, F., Nicolaides, K. and Menkhorst, E., 2023. Pre-eclampsia. Nature reviews Disease primers, 9(1), p.8. |
| Imakawa, Kazuhiko, et al. “Endogenous retroviruses and placental evolution, development, and diversity.” Cells 11.15 (2022): 2458. | Sanghavi, M. and Rutherford, J.D., 2014. Cardiovascular physiology of pregnancy. Circulation, 130(12), pp.1003-1008. |
| Jauniaux, Eric, Lucilla Poston, and Graham J. Burton. “Placental-related diseases of pregnancy: involvement of oxidative stress and implications in human evolution.” Human reproduction update 12.6 (2006): 747-755. | Ovadia, C., Sajous, J., Seed, P.T., Patel, K., Williamson, N.J., Attilakos, G., Azzaroli, F., Bacq, Y., Batsry, L., Broom, K. and Brun-Furrer, R., 2021. Ursodeoxycholic acid in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis. The lancet Gastroenterology & hepatology, 6(7), pp.547-558. |
| Khorami-Sarvestani, Sara, et al. “Placenta: an old organ with new functions.” Frontiers in Immunology 15 (2024): 1385762. | Abalos, E., Cuesta, C., Grosso, A.L., Chou, D. and Say, L., 2013. Global and regional estimates of preeclampsia and eclampsia: a systematic review. European journal of obstetrics & gynecology and reproductive biology, 170(1), pp.1-7. |
| Kshitiz, et al. “Evolution of placental invasion and cancer metastasis are causally linked.” Nature ecology & evolution 3.12 (2019): 1743-1753. | |
| Palmer, Susan K., et al. “Altered blood pressure course during normal pregnancy and increased preeclampsia at high altitude (3100 meters) in Colorado.” American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 180.5 (1999): 1161-1168. | |
| Purkerson, Mabel L., and Lilla Vekerdy. “A history of eclampsia, toxemia and the kidney in pregnancy.” American journal of nephrology 19.2 (1999): 313-319. | |
| Roberts, R. Michael, Jonathan A. Green, and Laura C. Schulz. “The evolution of the placenta.” Reproduction (Cambridge, England) 152.5 (2016): R179. | |
| Triche, Elizabeth W., et al. “Association of asthma diagnosis, severity, symptoms, and treatment with risk of preeclampsia.” Obstetrics & Gynecology 104.3 (2004): 585-593. | |
| Wagner, Günter P., et al. “The coevolution of placentation and cancer.” Annual Review of Animal Biosciences 10.1 (2022): 259-279. | |
| Wang, Fengxia, et al. “Preeclampsia and cancer risk in women in later life: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.” Menopause 28.9 (2021): 1070-1078. |
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