Placenta and Pregnancy

Running head: PLACENTA AND PREGNANCY
PLACENTA AND PREGNANCY
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1PLACENTA AND PREGNANCY
Answer 1)
The placenta is considered as the temporary organ, which connects the foetus nurturing in
the mother’s womb to the mother through the umbilical cord. There are different hormones
that is released during pregnancy and result in the establishment of the placenta (Burton &
Fowden, 2015). Human Chorionic Gonadotropin hormone is the primary hormone that is
released initially for the development of placenta and is also used for detecting if a women is
pregnant or not. There are various hormones that lead to the development of the placenta that
includes the (Mesiano, 2019):
 Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG)
 Oestrogen
 Progesterone
 Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (cRH).
Answer 2)
Placenta is defined as the temporary organ that primarily develops during pregnancy in
the uterus of the pregnant mother (Burton & Jauniaux, 2015). The primary purpose of
placenta is provide adequate nutrients and oxygen to the foetus and also remove any waste
content from the blood of the foetus. There are various hormones produced by the placenta
towards the end of the first trimester of pregnancy some of them are as follows (Soma et al.,
2016):
 Placental Growth Hormone (GH): It is also known as growth hormone 2 (GH2) or
growth hormone variant (GHV) and considered as a protein, which is encrypted by
Gh2 gene and released during pregnancy that is crucial for growth control regulation.

2PLACENTA AND PREGNANCY
 Human Placental Lactogen (hPL): It is also known as human chorionic
somatomammotropin (HCS) that is considered as the polypeptide placental hormone
that will help the foetus to grow.
 Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG): This is the first hormone that is released
during pregnancy and which assist the egg to nourish and help in development of
foetus (Herrera & Ortega, 2016).
 Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH): It is considered as a tropic hormone that is
produced within the anterior pituitary region.
 Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH): It is also known as corticotropin-releasing
factor (CRF) that is considered as the peptide hormone and is released in the fetal and
maternal circulation.
 Oestrogen: Oestrogen is released from corpus luteum present in the ovaries that is
required for foetal growth thereby stimulating the womb lining of the pregnant mother
to generate essential nutrients that is required for the growth and development of the
foetus.
Answer 3)
The above mentioned seven hormones are produced by the placenta during the pregnancy
that is essential for the growth and development of the foetus. The major role and mechanism
of action of each of the above mentioned hormones are explained in detail that will help in
establishing a healthy placenta ad pregnancy are as follows:
 Placental Growth Hormone (GH): The primary role of placental growth hormone is
regulating the growth and development of the human foetus and it also enhances the
metabolic condition of the pregnant mother in order to enable adequate energy supply
to the foetus (Sferruzzi et al., 2017). This hormone is produced by the foetus and as