AN ISOLATED-PERFUSED HUMAN PLACENTAL LOBULE MODEL FOR MULTIPLE INDICATOR DILUTION STUDIES

We describe a method for multiple indicator dilution studies in the is olated perfused human placental lobule developed to investigate the re lationships between changes in pressure and flow and solute clearance. A peripheral lobule of a human placenta is perfused with a tissue cul ture-based medium and the perfusate oxygen tension, arterial and venou s pressures, pH and perfusion temperature continuously monitored by a computerized system. Flow rates are readily changed. Bolus injections of vascular, extracellular and water space markers, and study compound s can be made into either maternal or fetal circulations, and precisel y timed outflow fractions can be collected with computer-controlled fr action collectors, allowing simultaneous determination of concentratio n-time profiles of each marker. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.