placenta

Question 1

what does the placenta do?

Answer 1

• Secretes hormones
• Transports wastes to mother’s blood for excretion by mother’s kidneys
• Transports antibodies
• Transports nutrients
• Transports oxygen from mother to foetus and carbon dioxide from foetus to mother

Question 2

how is the placenta developed?

Answer 2

• As the blastocyst implants into the endometrium, small finger like projections develop on its outer wall
• Projections are called chorionic villi
• Villi contain blood vessels
• Villi form blood pools in the endometrium = fuse with the uterus wall and form the placenta
• Foetal and maternal blood remain separated by placental membranes

Question 3

what do chronic villi in the placenta do?

Answer 3

increase surface area for diffusion of nutrient, wastes and gases

Question 4

what does the one umbilical vein in the placenta do?

Answer 4

carries nutrients and oxygen to foetus

Question 5

what do the two umbilical arteries do?

Answer 5

carries foetus’s wastes towards placenta

Question 6

how is the placenta attached to feotus?

Answer 6

umbilical cord