Reorganization of Extracellular Matrix in Placentas from Women with Asymptomatic Chagas Disease: Mechanism of Parasite Invasion or Local Placental Defense?
Figure 5
Placentas from mothers infected with T. cruzi present selective basal lamina disorganization in chorionic villi. Placental tissue from control non-infected (a–c) and infected (d–f) women were immunostained for heparan sulphate (a, d), collagen IV (b, e), and fibronectin (c, f). Placental chorionic villi from infected mothers completely lost their immunoreactivity for heparan sulphate (d) and showed reduced immunoreactivity for collagen IV (e), compared to controls (a, b). No difference in immunoreactivity for fibronectin was observed between controls and infected chorionic villi (c, f). Chorionic villi were processed for routine immunohistological techniques and counterstained with Mayer’s hematoxylin. Bar scale: 20 μm.
