CD31 immunolocalization as specific marker of placental blood vessels, it application for histomorphometric studies

Abstract

For study of placental angiogenesis in productive interest species, it is necessary to have a specific marker of different caliber blood vessels, which allows to apply vascular histomorphometryc. The objective was to develop the immunohistochemical technique for CD31 as marker of blood vessels in placentas of swines at the early gestations, intermediates gestations and term gestations, for histomorphometric studies. The histological sections of 4 μm were stained with differential stains and the other processed by indirect immunohistochemis-try for the determination of the endothelial cell marker protein, CD31. The his-tomorphometric analysis revealed a significant increase in the number of blood vessels in the placenta from day 30 to 60 of gestation and a decrease in the vas-cular area in intermediates gestations (p=0.05). The immunolocalization of CD31 allowed us to delimit with precision smaller vascular areas. We consider that the marking placental microvasculature through the immunolocalization of CD31 is an effective tool for the application of histomorphometric studies.