The integrity of the membranes that surround the baby in the uterus during pregnancy is vital for its normal development. But they can be damaged by different causes: after an infection, a hemorrhage or after a fetal surgery and even after performing prenatal tests, such as amniocentesis, which requires doctors to make a hole with a needle in the amniotic sac.
To this day, it is not possible to help the healing of the fetal membranes, so it is good news that they can repair themselves, thus avoiding complications such as premature rupture of the amniotic bag. This has been demonstrated by scientists from Queen Mary University and University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom.
A big step to prevent premature births
Premature rupture of the amniotic sac is one of the main causes of premature birth. Hence the importance of the discovery of the international research team, which also includes scientists and clinicians from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and Leuven University Hospitals (Belgium), since the successful repair of fetal membranes could help reduce the risk of complications in pregnancy and childbirth.
For the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, small defects were created with a needle in donated human fetal membrane tissue to mimic the damage caused during fetal surgery.
Within days of injury, the researchers discovered a population of cells called myofibroblasts (MF), which play an important role in wound healing, and found that these cells crawled toward the edges of the wound and toward the site of the wound. default. This cell population produced collagen and began to pull on the edges of the wound, contracting the tissues and repairing the wound.
Dr. Tina Chowdhury, Queen Mary Senior Lecturer in Regenerative Medicine, explains that “We have always thought that small diameter wounds created in human fetal membranes rarely heal on their own, but here we show that tissues have the potential to do it “.
Study co-author Anna David, consultant and professor of obstetrics and maternal-fetal medicine at UCLH and director of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women’s Health at this center, also considers her discovery as a great step:
“Finding out that fetal membranes have this healing potential is a big step toward developing treatments for women with PMRD. Hopefully we can delay or even prevent preterm delivery, which will significantly improve baby outcomes.”
Via | Queen Mary University of London
Photos | iStock
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