Could You List The Functions Of The Placenta?

The villi and the uterine wall in which they are embedded make up the placenta. Thus the placenta is formed partly from the embryonic tissue and partly from the uterine wall. The placenta allows:
1. Dissolved food substances (e.g. glucose, amino acids, and mineral salts) and oxygen to diffuse from the mother's blood into that of the embryo.
2. Metabolic waste products (e.g. urea and carbon dioxide) to diffuse from the embryonic blood capillaries into the mother's blood stream.
3. Antibodies to diffuse from the mothers blood into the embryonic blood capillaries. The antibodies protect the embryo against certain diseases.

The embryo is attached to the placenta by a tube known as the umbilical cord which contains the blood vessel of the embryo. It contains two umbilical arteries that carry deoxygenated blood from the unborn mammalian to the placenta. It also contains one umbilical vein that transports oxygenated blood and food substance from the placenta to the unborn mammalian. When the main organs of the embryo have been formed the young mammal is known as a "foetus". The "foetus" continues to grow in the uterus. At the end of nine months of pregnancy the baby is fully formed and is ready to be born.

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