The immediate goal is to explore the ontogeny of NO synthase in the human placenta, to verify its expression by extravillous cytotrophoblast, and to determine whether NO synthase is altered in placentae from women with preeclampsia and intrauterine growth retardation, and in choriocarcinoma tissue. Because extravillous cytotrophoblast are invasive and apparently supplant the vascular smooth muscle cells of spiral arteries, we will also test whether the NO produced by cytotrophoblast cultured from first trimester placenta facilitates cytotrophoblast cell invasion as well as contributes to cytostasis or cytotoxicity of human vascular smooth muscle cells in coculture. The long-term goal is to obtain the necessary career development to become an independent investigator in the emerging field of cytotrophoblast biology and to acquire the requisite techniques of molecular and cell biology.
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