Placental Amino Acid transport is decreased after exposure to hypoxia

Placental villous hypoxia is seen in pregnancies with growth-restricted infants and pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia. Amino acids are important nutrients for fetal growth and development. Fetal growth restriction is associated with lower fetal amino acid concentrations and lower placental amino acid transport. One mechanism by which placental amino acid transport may be adversely affected is villous hypoxia as a result of placental underperfusion. Objective: To test whether acute hypoxic conditions influence system A amino acid transporter activity in placental villous explants. Methods: The uptake of C14…