TY - JOUR T1 - Circulating Placental Extracellular Vesicles and Their Potential Roles During Pregnancy JF - Ochsner Journal JO - Ochsner J SP - 439 LP - 445 DO - 10.31486/toj.20.0049 VL - 20 IS - 4 AU - Angela Nakahara AU - Soumyalekshmi Nair AU - Valeska Ormazabal AU - Omar Elfeky AU - Cathryn E. Garvey AU - Sherri Longo AU - Carlos Salomon Y1 - 2020/12/21 UR - http://www.ochsnerjournal.org/content/20/4/439.abstract N2 - Background: Numerous changes in maternal physiology occur during pregnancy that are critical in controlling and maintaining the maternal metabolic adaptations and fetal development. The placenta is the key source through which the fetus receives nutrients, blood, and oxygen for growth. The human placenta releases several molecules into maternal circulation that include hormones, proteins, RNA, and DNA throughout the course of pregnancy. Additionally, extracellular vesicles (EVs) originating from the placenta have been found in the maternal circulation.Methods: In this review, we discuss the role of EVs in maternal-fetal communication during pregnancy.Results: EVs originating from the placenta can be divided into 3 categories based on their size and/or origin: exosomes (50 to 150 nm), microvesicles (nm to several μm), and apoptotic bodies or syncytial nuclear aggregates (>1 μm). The cellular microenvironment—such as oxygen tension and glucose concentration—have been found to control EV release from the placenta and their bioactivity on target cells. Furthermore, maternal EVs can stimulate cytokine release from endothelial cells and are involved in several physiologic and pathologic events in pregnancy.Conclusion: Exosomes provide a way to identify the function and metabolic state of cell origin through their ability to reflect the microenvironment that they are released from. Further understanding of how EVs regulate key events in pregnancy may help elucidate how maternal-fetal communication is established in both normal and pathologic conditions. ER -