Scientists have grown "mini-placentas" in a laboratory to help them better understand pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia occurs in about six in 100 first pregnancies. It can put at risk both the mother and ...

The placenta could be one reason why some women develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy, a new study finds. A deficit in the way the placenta expresses the gene for a hormone called insulin-like ...

Maternal stress could leave epigenetic imprints on genes in the placenta associated with cortisol -- a necessary hormone for fetal development -- and this would affect the baby's development from very ...

AS WE emerged into the world as newborns, each of us lost something important: a body part that had provided us with oxygen and nutrients, removed waste products and kept pathogens at bay. What became ...

In the gut, it gets taken up by platelets and is delivered to parts of the body that need to grow, including in wound healing. During pregnancy, serotonin also helps with growth: It travels into the ...