The role of placental abnormalities in development of perinatal brain damage in the foetus and the newborn (a literature review)

Abstract

Th is literature review addresses a number of modern concepts of aetiopathogenetic mechanisms in placental dysfunction and their role in development of CNS pathology in the foetus. A complex analysis of literature data has made it possible to understand the complexity and multifaceted nature of placental disorders modulating brain development from the moment of trophoblast implantation. Th e eff ects of prenatal factors on the foetus are limited to the protective function of the placenta retaining the placental reserve. Nevertheless, gestation pathology beginning from embryogenesis defi nes genetic and epigenetic impairments confi rming the concept of the placenta being “the third brain” connected to the maternal brain and the foetus’s developing brain and conditioning the severity of hypoxic-ischaemic injury and the nature of further neurological impairments. Th e review has been written based on analysis of literatures presented in eLIBRARY.RU, Cyberleninka, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Web of Science databases published in 2005-2021 (predominantly within the past 5-7 years) using the following keywords: molecular and genetic predictors, preeclampsia, angiogenesis, neurogenesis, vascular endothelial growth factor and VEGF.