The Possible Role of Extravillous Trophoblast-Derived Exosomes on the Uterine Spiral Arterial Remodeling under Both Normal and Pathological Conditions
Figure 2
A hypothesis on the effect of EVTs-derived exosomes on SpA remodeling. Complications of pregnancy are thought to be clinical manifestations of a common developmental lesion inadequate invasion by extravillous trophoblast cells with a consequent failure to remodel the maternal uterine spiral arteries. EVTs migrate from the cytotrophoblast-anchoring villi ((a) [1]) of the placenta and invade the maternal decidua and myometrium. These cells are localised with uterine spiral arteries (b) and are thought to induce vascular remodeling (i.e., extracellular matrix remodeling [2]); the loss of vascular endothelial [3]; and smooth muscle [4] cells by apoptosis or migration out of the vessel wall. We propose that EVTs-derived exosome has participation on the SpA remodeling, specificity affecting process as migration, proliferation, and apoptosis of VSMC (c). In (b), cartoon is modified from Cartwright et al., 2010 [87].
