Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article:  Sadedin, Suzanne (8/4/2014), War in the womb, Retrieved on 2014-08-08
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  • Folksonomies: evolution pregnancy

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    09 AUG 2014

     Invasive Blood-Seeking Fetuses in Mammals

    In most mammals, the mother’s blood supply remains safely isolated from the foetus. It passes its nutrients to the foetus through a filter, which the mother controls. The mother is a despot: she provides only what she chooses, which makes her largely invulnerable to paternal manipulation during pregnancy. In primates and mice, it’s a different story. Cells from the invading placenta digest their way through the endometrial surface, puncturing the mother’s arteries, swarming inside and ...
    Folksonomies: evolution pregnancy
    Folksonomies: evolution pregnancy
      1  notes
     
    09 AUG 2014

     The Mother's Womb Tests the Viability of the Fetus

    Given the invasive nature of pregnancy, it’s perhaps not surprising that the primate womb has evolved to be wary of committing to it. Mammals whose placentae don’t breach the walls of the womb can simply abort or reabsorb unwanted foetuses at any stage of pregnancy. For primates, any such manoeuvre runs the risk of haemorrhage, as the placenta rips away from the mother’s enlarged and paralysed arterial system. And that, in a sentence, is why miscarriages are so dangerous. It’s also w...
    Folksonomies: biology pregnancy
    Folksonomies: biology pregnancy
      1  notes
     

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