| Cytotrophoblast | |
|---|---|
 Primary chorionic villi. Diagrammatic. | |
 Secondary chorionic villi. Diagrammatic. | |
| Details | |
| Carnegie stage | 5a |
| Days | 8 |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | cytotrophoblastus |
| TE | E6.0.1.1.4.0.5 |
| FMA | 83042 83039, 83042 |
| Anatomical terminology | |
"Cytotrophoblast" is the name given to both the inner layer of the trophoblast (also called layer of Langhans) or the cells that live there. It is interior to the syncytiotrophoblast and external to the wall of the blastocyst in a developing embryo.
The cytotrophoblast is considered to be the trophoblastic stem cell because the layer surrounding the blastocyst remains while daughter cells differentiate and proliferate to function in multiple roles. There are two lineages that cytotrophoblastic cells may differentiate through: fusion and invasive. The fusion lineage yields syncytiotrophoblast and the invasive lineage yields interstitial cytotrophoblast cells.[1]
Cytotrophoblastic cells play an important role in the implantation of an embryo in the uterus.
- ^ Handwerger, S (8 July 2010). "New insights into the regulation of human cytotrophoblast cell differentiation". Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology. 323 (1): 94–104. doi:10.1016/j.mce.2009.12.015. PMC 2874088. PMID 20036312.