Cheryl Rosenfeld
University of Missouri-Columbia, MO·Physiology
The placenta is more than a nutrient pipeline: it also makes and handles signaling molecules that shape the developing fetus. Both mouse and human placentas contain substantial amounts of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT), a chemical messenger better known for its roles in the brain and gut, yet little is known about what serotonin does inside the placenta itself.
- Fields
Physiology
Neuroscience
Biology
- Topics
placenta
serotonin
Slc6a4
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Determine whether mice conditionally lacking Slc6a4/SERT, the serotonin transporter, in parietal and spiral artery trophoblast giant cells accumulate less serotonin in the placenta.
- Test whether loss of trophoblast serotonin uptake produces histopathological changes in the placenta and brain, using tissue analysis of conditional knockout conceptuses.
- Compare placental and neural gene expression profiles between conditional knockout and control mice to ask how serotonin availability shapes placental function and fetal forebrain development.
- Assess whether maternal treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which block SERT activity, obstructs placental serotonin apportionment in the same way as the genetic knockout.
More about the research
In mice, serotonin concentrates in a specific placental cell type, parietal trophoblast giant cells, which sit at the border between placenta and maternal tissue, suggesting local signaling to neighboring cells. Because drugs and environmental chemicals can change placental serotonin levels, understanding this system matters for fetal development.
Why it matters
Many pregnant women take SSRI antidepressants, which act on the same transporter studied here. Showing how blocked placental serotonin uptake alters placental structure and fetal brain development could clarify whether these medications carry risk for neurobehavioral conditions, including autism spectrum disorders, and could point toward early diagnostic markers or ways to prevent diseases that originate before birth.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Mariko Horii
University of California-San Diego, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Identify which stem cell-based culture method best reproduces the abnormal trophoblast differentiation seen in preeclamptic placentas, comparing approaches for modeling syncytiotrophoblast and extravillous trophoblast development.
Rupa Radhakrishnan
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Determine how prenatal opioid exposure affects the developing fetal brain over time, using repeated structural and functional fetal brain MRI in pregnancies of mothers with opioid use disorder.
Mana M Parast
University of California-San Diego, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether villitis of unknown etiology (VUE) linked to fetal growth restriction has a distinct cellular profile of chronic immune responses and trophoblast or endothelial damage, using mass cytometry on banked placental tissue.
The school
University of Missouri-Columbia: 21 labs on PI Pages, $509M a year on research, 260 research doctorates a year.
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