S04 



THE PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 



stages represent an intilti'ation of fat into the decidual cells from the 

 maternal l)lood. 



From the absence of fat in the more superficial parts of the 

 syncytium, Hofbauer ^ suggests that it may be split up into fatty 

 acids and glycerine before absorption, and then re-synthesised by the 

 fcetal placenta (Fig. 156). Thence it is carried l)y the blood in a 

 solnl)le form, and is again deposited in droplets in the heart, liver, 

 lungs, alimentary tract, and spleen of the f(etus. In the later mouths 

 of pregnancy thei'e is a considerable deposit of fat in the suljcutaneous 

 tissue.- 



Fig. 15(i. — Fat in a villus of the human plat:enta. (From Hofbauer'.s 



liiologie der menschlichan Plaiciita, Brauniiiller.) 



fs., Fat globules in deeper layers of syncytium ; fs'., fat in syncytium between 



Langhans' cells ; fh., fat in mesoblast ; /V., fat in vacuolated cell. 



Lipoids 



Bieiieufeld* states that he found large (quantities of lipoids in the 

 placenta in the earliei- stages of pregnancy, but that as pregnancy 

 went on the lipoid content decreased. The fpiantity nf lipoids was 

 exceptionally high in the condition of eclampsia. 



Ecspirntioii 

 The respiratory exchange in tlie Inunan fostns has lieen studied 



' Hofbauei', Orund'.iige eiiwr Bi<ili>gie der mvHschlidiPn Plaieata, Leipzig, 1905 

 (see above, pp. 47.T and 543). 



^ See also Bondi, "Ueber das Fett in der Placenta," Arch. f. Gynuk., vol. xciii., 

 1911; and Ballerini, " Histoehemische Untersuchungen iiber Fettstoffe und 

 Lipoda im Plazentargewebe," An-h. f. (Jipidk., vol. xcviii., 1912. 



■' Bienenfeld, " Beitrag zur Kenntnis des Lipoidgehaltes der Placenta," 

 Biochem. Zvit.irli., vol. .xliii., 1912. See also Balleiini, lor. rit. 



