The placenta is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation. It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas and waste exchange between the physically separate maternal and fetal circulations, and is an important endocrine organ, producing hormones that regulate both maternal and fetal physiology during pregnancy. The placenta connects to the fetus via the umbilical cord, and on the opposite aspect to the maternal uterus in a species-dependent manner. In humans, a thin layer of maternal decidual (endometrial) tissue comes away with the placenta when it is expelled from the uterus following birth. Placentas are a defining characteristic of placental mammals, but are also found in marsupials and some non-mammals with varying levels of development.
Amniocentesis is a medical procedure used primarily in the prenatal diagnosis of genetic conditions. It has other uses such as in the assessment of infection and fetal lung maturity. Prenatal diagnostic testing, which includes amniocentesis, is necessary to conclusively diagnose the majority of genetic disorders, with amniocentesis being the gold-standard procedure after 15 weeks' gestation.
A freemartin or free-martin is an infertile female cattle with masculinized behavior and non-functioning ovaries. Phenotypically, the animal appears female, but various aspects of female reproductive development are altered due to acquisition of anti-Müllerian hormone from the male twin. Genetically, the animal is chimeric: karyotypy of a sample of cells shows XX/XY chromosomes. The animal originates as a female (XX), but acquires the male (XY) component in utero by exchange of some cellular material from a male twin, via vascular connections between placentas: an example of microchimerism. The chimerism is mainly present in the hematopoietic stem cells.
Serum is the fluid and solvent component of blood which does not play a role in clotting. It may be defined as blood plasma without the clotting factors, or as blood with all cells and clotting factors removed. Serum contains all proteins except clotting factors, including all electrolytes, antibodies, antigens, hormones; and any exogenous substances. Serum also does not contain all the formed elements of blood, which include blood cells and platelets.
Cultured meat, also known as cultivated meat among other names, is a form of cellular agriculture where meat is produced by culturing animal cells in vitro. Cultured meat is produced using tissue engineering techniques pioneered in regenerative medicine. Jason Matheny popularized the concept in the early 2000s after he co-authored a paper on cultured meat production and created New Harvest, the world's first non-profit organization dedicated to in-vitro meat research. Cultured meat has the potential to address the environmental impact of meat production, animal welfare, food security and human health, in addition to its potential mitigation of climate change.
Prenatal testing is a tool that can be used to detect some birth defects at various stages prior to birth. Prenatal testing consists of prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis, which are aspects of prenatal care that focus on detecting problems with the pregnancy as early as possible. These may be anatomic and physiologic problems with the health of the zygote, embryo, or fetus, either before gestation even starts or as early in gestation as practicable. Screening can detect problems such as neural tube defects, chromosome abnormalities, and gene mutations that would lead to genetic disorders and birth defects, such as spina bifida, cleft palate, Down syndrome, trisomy 18, Tay–Sachs disease, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and fragile X syndrome. Some tests are designed to discover problems which primarily affect the health of the mother, such as PAPP-A to detect pre-eclampsia or glucose tolerance tests to diagnose gestational diabetes. Screening can also detect anatomical defects such as hydrocephalus, anencephaly, heart defects, and amniotic band syndrome.
Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. After cells of interest have been isolated from living tissue, they can subsequently be maintained under carefully controlled conditions. They need to be kept at body temperature (37 °C) in an incubator. These conditions vary for each cell type, but generally consist of a suitable vessel with a substrate or rich medium that supplies the essential nutrients (amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals), growth factors, hormones, and gases (CO2, O2), and regulates the physio-chemical environment (pH buffer, osmotic pressure, temperature). Most cells require a surface or an artificial substrate to form an adherent culture as a monolayer (one single-cell thick), whereas others can be grown free floating in a medium as a suspension culture. This is typically facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, such as broth or agar. Tissue culture commonly refers to the culture of animal cells and tissues, with the more specific term plant tissue culture being used for plants. The lifespan of most cells is genetically determined, but some cell-culturing cells have been 'transformed' into immortal cells which will reproduce indefinitely if the optimal conditions are provided.
An artificial womb or artificial uterus is a device that would allow for extracorporeal pregnancy by growing a fetus outside the body of an organism that would normally carry the fetus to term.
A bioprocess is a specific process that uses complete living cells or their components to obtain desired products.
Rho(D) immune globulin (RhIG) is a medication used to prevent RhD isoimmunization in mothers who are RhD negative and to treat idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in people who are Rh positive. It is often given both during and following pregnancy. It may also be used when RhD-negative people are given RhD-positive blood. It is given by injection into muscle or a vein. A single dose lasts 12 weeks. It is made from human blood plasma.
Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD), bovine viral diarrhoea or mucosal disease, previously referred to as bovine virus diarrhea (BVD), is an economically significant disease of cattle that is found in the majority of countries throughout the world. Worldwide reviews of the economically assessed production losses and intervention programs incurred by BVD infection have been published. The causative agent, bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), is a member of the genus Pestivirus of the family Flaviviridae.
Fetal proteins are high levels of proteins present during the fetal stage of development. Often related proteins assume similar roles after birth or in the embryo, in which case the fetal varieties are called fetal isoforms. Sometimes, the genes coding fetal isoforms occur adjacent to their adult homologues in the genome, and in those cases a locus control region often coordinates the transition from fetal to adult forms. In other cases fetal isoforms can be produced by alternate splicing using fetal exons to produce proteins that differ in only a portion of their amino acid sequence. In some situations the continuing expression of fetal forms can reveal the presence of a disease condition or serve as a treatment for diseases such as sickle cell anemia. Some well known examples include:
Pregnancy-specific beta-1-glycoprotein 1 (PSBG-1) also known as CD66f, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PSG1 gene and is a member of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) gene family. Pregnancy-specific glycoproteins (PSGs) are a complex consisting of carbohydrate and protein, which is present in the mammalian body specifically during pregnancy. This glycoprotein is the most abundant protein found in the maternal bloodstream during the later stages of pregnancy and it is of vital importance in fetal development. The PSG functions primarily as an immunomodulator to protect the growing fetus.
Human platelet lysate is a substitute supplement for fetal bovine serum (FBS) in experimental and clinical cell culture. It is a turbid, light-yellow liquid that is obtained from human blood platelets after freeze/thaw cycle(s). The freeze/thaw cycle causes the platelets to lyse, releasing a large quantity of growth factors necessary for cell expansion. hPL has the highest concentration of growth factors of any serum suppliments. FBS-free cell culture media, e.g. with platelet lysate or chemically defined/ animal component free, are used for cell therapy or regenerative medicine. They are commercially available in GMP -quality which is generally basis for regulatory approval.
A chemically defined medium is a growth medium suitable for the in vitro cell culture of human or animal cells in which all of the chemical components are known. Standard cell culture media commonly consist of a basal medium supplemented with animal serum as a source of nutrients and other ill-defined factors. The technical disadvantages to using serum include its undefined nature, batch-to-batch variability in composition, and the risk of contamination.
Cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) is fetal DNA that circulates freely in the maternal blood. Maternal blood is sampled by venipuncture. Analysis of cffDNA is a method of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis frequently ordered for pregnant women of advanced maternal age. Two hours after delivery, cffDNA is no longer detectable in maternal blood.
Cellular agriculture focuses on the production of agricultural products from cell cultures using a combination of biotechnology, tissue engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology to create and design new methods of producing proteins, fats, and tissues that would otherwise come from traditional agriculture. Most of the industry is focused on animal products such as meat, milk, and eggs, produced in cell culture rather than raising and slaughtering farmed livestock which is associated with substantial global problems of detrimental environmental impacts, animal welfare, food security and human health. Cellular agriculture is a field of the biobased economy. The most well known cellular agriculture concept is cultured meat.
Retinol-binding proteins (RBP) are a family of proteins with diverse functions. They are carrier proteins that bind retinol. Assessment of retinol-binding protein is used to determine visceral protein mass in health-related nutritional studies.
Border disease (BD) is a viral disease of sheep and goats, primarily causing congenital diseases, but can also cause acute and persistent infections. It first appeared in the border regions of England and Wales in 1959, and has since spread world-wide. Lambs that are born with BD are commonly known as 'hairy shakers' due to the primary presentation of the disease. The disease was recognized before the virus, therefore the common name of the disease predates the understanding of the viral pathology. The virus can cause a significant reduction in the percentage of surviving lambs, thus it has a large economic impact on farmers.
Entomoculture is the subfield of cellular agriculture which specifically deals with the production of insect tissue in vitro. It draws on principles more generally used in tissue engineering and has scientific similarities to Baculovirus Expression Vectors or soft robotics. The field has mainly been proposed because of its potential technical advantages over mammalian cells in generating cultivated meat. The name of the field was coined by Natalie Rubio at Tufts University.
