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Concept
Chorion
Summary
The chorion is the outermost fetal membrane around the embryo in mammals, birds and reptiles (amniotes). It develops from an outer fold on the surface of the yolk sac, which lies outside the zona pellucida (in mammals), known as the vitelline membrane in other animals. In insects it is developed by the follicle cells while the egg is in the ovary. Some mollusks also have chorions as part of their eggs. For example fragile octopus eggs have only a chorion as their envelope.
In humans and other mammals (excluding monotremes), the chorion is one of the fetal membranes that exist during pregnancy between the developing fetus and mother. The chorion and the amnion together form the amniotic sac. In humans it is formed by extraembryonic mesoderm and the two layers of trophoblast that surround the embryo and other membranes; the chorionic villi emerge from the chorion, invade the endometrium, and allow the transfer of nutrients from maternal blood to fetal blood.
The chorion consists of two layers: an outer formed by the trophoblast, and an inner formed by the somatic mesoderm.
The trophoblast is made up of an internal layer of cubical or prismatic cells, the cytotrophoblast or layer of Langhans, and an external multinucleated layer, the syncytiotrophoblast.
The chorion undergoes rapid proliferation and forms numerous processes, the chorionic villi, which invade and destroy the uterine decidua, while simultaneously absorbing nutritive materials from it for the growth of the embryo.
The chorionic villi are at first small and non-vascular, and consist of the trophoblast only, but they increase in size and ramify, whereas the mesoderm, carrying branches of the umbilical vessels, grows into them, and they are vascularized.
Blood is carried to the villi by the paired umbilical arteries, which branch into chorionic arteries and enter the chorionic villi as cotyledon arteries. After circulating through the capillaries of the villi, the blood is returned to the embryo by the umbilical vein.
Official source
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