#gingerbread
Gingerbread Placenta
Run, run, run as fast as you can
You’ can’t catch me, I’m the chorionic villus gingerbread man!
The image shows a section through one of the many thousands of chorionic villi in the placenta that are responsible for the exchange of gas and nutrients with the maternal blood.
The mostly white space are the maternal blood lakes which are normally filled with mom’s blood while the small vessels (like gingerbread’s eyes and mouth) within the villus are branches of the umbilical vessels that shuttle blood back and forth to and from the growing baby.
The very thin cells lining the villus (gingerbread’s skin) are syncytiotrophoblast cells which gas must diffuse across in order to move from mom to baby and vice versa.
Histology by @BiopsyMD via Twitter
These tiny guys are now in my shop for just £12, see how I made them over on my story
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Aries: Snickerdoodle
Taurus: Fortune Cookie
Gemini: Oatmeal Rasin
Cancer: Sugar Cookie
Leo: Chocolate Chip
Virgo: Gingerbread
Libra: Peanut Butter
Scorpio: Oreo
Sagittarius: Shortbread
Capricorn: White Chocolate Macadamia
Aquarius: Biscuit
Pisces: Wafer