3.11 Placenta

Key Points:
1. The structure is known as the uterus, and on one side of the uterus there is a structure known as the placenta. The role of the placenta. When the child is in the uterus, its a water filled environment, amniotic fluids, at this time child cannot breathe or digest. Also unable to properly carry out excretion. So how does the child obtain nutrition?
2. Growing out of the embryo is the placental structure, there's something known as the umbilical cord. In the diagram, the embryo would be at the end of the cord. There are blood vessels on the umbilical cord and these blood vessels lead from the embryo to the placenta and they spread out to form a structure known as the placenta.
3. The placenta biological grows out of the developing embryo, NOT the mother. The blood vessels are the childs blood vessels.
4. The structure on the side is the lining of the uterus. The placenta grows into the wall of the uterus. In the blood stream of the mother there would be stuff like glucose, fats and amino acids. These would travel through her blood stream and into her uterus, and they'll cross into the childs blood at the placenta.
They go from the mothers blood to the childs blood through the placenta. To make this efficient the placenta has a LARGE surface area.