Efecto de los retinoides en la diferenciación del trofoblasto humano en cultivo

objective: in the current study we investigate the effect of different retinoids on the function and cellular differentiation of human cytotrophoblast (ctb) cells in culture. material and methods: experimental in vitro study that analyzed explants of placenta from term pregnancy were cultured and stimulated with different physiological concentrations of retinol (rol), 9-cis retinoic acid (cret) and all-trans retinoic acid (tret). the optimal conditions of ctb culture and changes in metalloproteinase-9 (mmp9) and metalloproteinase-2 (mmp2) secretion stimulated by retinoids were analyzed by zymography. isolated ctb cells were stimulated with retinoids and morphological changes of in vitro syncytio formation were observed by light microscopy. results: the explants of placenta had a dose-dependent increment in the activity of mmp-2 and mmp-9 when they were incubated in presence of rol and in less proportion when they were incubated with cret and tret. for isolated ctb cells, cret stimulates the differentiation to syncytio within 48 h of incubation, whereas in the absence of tret differentiation started after the fourth day incubation. conclusions: the placenta and isolated ctb cells have the capacity to respond to rol, this fact suggest the presence of a metabolic pathway necessary to transform retinol to the biological active retinoids like cret and tret. the effect of these retinoids might be expressed in the function of implantation and developing placenta.