The Placental Barrier: the Gate and the Fate in Drug Distribution
Abstract
Optimal development of the embryo and the fetus depends on placental passage of gases, nutrients, hormones, and waste products. These molecules are transferred across the placenta via passive diffusion, carrier-mediated cellular uptake and efflux, and transcytosis pathways. The same mechanisms additionally control the rate and extent of transplacental transfer of drugs taken by the pregnant mother. Essentially all drugs cross the placenta to a certain extent, and some accumulate in the placenta itself at levels that can even exceed those in maternal plasma. Hence, even drugs that are not efficiently transferred across the placenta may indirectly affect fetal development by interfering with placental function. In this article, we describe key properties of the placental barrier and their modulation by medications. We highlight implications for pharmacotherapy and novel approaches for drug delivery in pregnant women and their fetuses.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Placental transfer of drugs with such high molecular size is generally not anticipated in the first trimester of pregnancy, unless a specific mechanism for transfer exists.
“Even though additional physicochemical properties play important roles, placental transfer of drugs with such high molecular size is generally not anticipated in the first trimester of pregnancy, unless a specific mechanism for transfer exists.18”
Cites
The Dopamine Transporter and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Madras, B. K., Miller, G. M., & Fischman, A. J. (2005) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.10.011 · Cited by 393 · see citing works
Sun, M., Kingdom, J., Baczyk, D., Lye, S. J., Matthews, S. G., & Gibb, W. (2006) · Placenta · doi:10.1016/j.placenta.2005.05.007 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Hutson, J. R., Garcia-Bournissen, F., Davis, A., & Koren, G. (2011) · Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics · doi:10.1038/clpt.2011.66 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
Hutson, J. R., Koren, G., & Matthews, S. G. (2010) · Placenta · doi:10.1016/j.placenta.2010.02.010 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Plasticenta: First evidence of microplastics in human placenta
Ragusa, A., Svelato, A., Santacroce, C., Catalano, P., Notarstefano, V., Carnevali, O., Papa, F., Rongioletti, M. C. A., Baiocco, F., Draghi, S., et al. (2021) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2020.106274 · Cited by 3,474 · see citing works
Szilagyi, J. T., Avula, V., & Fry, R. C. (2020) · Current Environmental Health Reports · doi:10.1007/s40572-020-00279-0 · Cited by 328 · see citing works
Dao, K., Shechtman, S., Weber-Schoendorfer, C., Diav-Citrin, O., Murad, R. H., Berlin, M., Hazan, A., Richardson, J. L., Eleftheriou, G., Rousson, V., et al. (2024) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083550 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
“18 While previous studies did not detect an increased risk of major birth defects following the use of GLP1-RA during the first trimester of pregnancy, further confirmation from additional studies is warranted.”
Result
- Authors
- Tetro, N., Moushaev, S., Rubinchik-Stern, M., & Eyal, S.
- Affiliations
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Eyal, Sara
- ORCID
- Eyal, Sara
- Venue
- Pharmaceutical Research
- Published
- 2018-02-23
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 71-71
- ISSN
- 0724-8741 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-904X
- OpenAlex
- W2793076493
- Cited by
- 145
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 11.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Pharmaceutical Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Israel Science Foundation (506/13)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Pregnancy and Medication Impact
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Drug Transport and Resistance Mechanisms
- Keywords
- placental barrier, maternal-fetal drug transfer, passive diffusion, carrier-mediated transport, transcytosis, placental function, fetal development, drug therapy in pregnancy, maternal-fetal pharmacokinetics
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Female, Humans, Maternal-Fetal Exchange, Placenta, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications, Tissue Distribution, Placental Circulation, Models, Animal, Membrane Transport Proteins, Fetal Development
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
