Abstract

Placental Cell-Specific Extracellular Vesicle (EV) Changes Throughout Gestation Quantitated by Nanoscale Flow Cytometry

Terry Morgan, Professor, Oregon Health and Science University

Placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) positive EVs increase with gestational age and may be relatively increased early in pregnancy in women who develop severe pregnancy complications. Importantly, PLAP alone is not specific for placental EVs and multiplex antibody labeling is required to measure cell-specific events in plasma.  We employ nanoscale high resolution flow cytometry to reliably image, count, and isolate cell- and size-specific EVs in banked plasma.  This is the first study to demonstrate that most of the PLAP+ EV events in pregnant plasma arise from EVTs, not floating villi.