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My career has been devoted to studying how early life events affect development, but for many years I focused on infancy and childhood. About 25 years ago, it became clear to me, and to many others, that critical maturational processes were actually initiated well before birth. Understanding how the placenta serves as the maternal-fetal interface is key to gaining additional insight into this critically important period in our lives.
The placenta is a distinctive and defining anatomical characteristic of mammals. Composed primarily of fetal tissue, it is the conduit through which maternally produced nutrients and oxygen enter the fetus and metabolic waste products return to the mother for excretion. It also enables a developing baby to guide pregnancy, from assisting in embryo implantation to helping ...
