New placental factors in early pregnancy

In the last decades it has been extensively demonstrated the role of placen tal factors in regulating gestational development. We studied the presence and localization in early gestation of inducible nitric oxide synthase((1)) (iNOS), adrenomedullin((2)) (AM), fatty acid synthase((3)), (FAS), and S-1 00 protein. These factors have been demonstrated to be up-regulated in prol iferative tissues, such as malignant cells, suggesting a role in regulating mitogenesis and/or to cell interaction, suggesting that they could be invo lved in the implantation process. In tissues collected from pregnancy termination (PT), iNOS and AM were loca lized in decidual and trophoblast cells, whereas FAS and S-100 protein excl usively in decidualized endometrial cells. The presence of these factors at the fete-maternal interface in early pregn ancy suggests a potential role in implantation and early gestational develo pment.