Abstract
Mammals are called so because of the presence of organs which produce a food (milk) able to satisfy the nutritional needs of their offspring, it being complete in organoleptic components suitable for the immature digestive ability of the whelps. In reality, the new system for generating offspring in mammals includes a prenatal phase when the product of conception is kept inside the mother, where it is protected from adverse conditions such as bad weather, microbes and predators and so can develop, in a relatively brief time, most of the complex functions of an evolved organism. This development does not depend only on the presence of the maternal uterus but even more so on the presence of an organ which is exceptionally good at evolving week by week to adapt itself to the differing needs of the growing embryo-foetus and is able to substitute (even up to birth) various vital activities such as haematopoietic, circulatory, respiratory, endocrine and metabolic functions.
The original version of this chapter was revised. An erratum to this chapter can be found at DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-48732-8_23
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Resta, L., Rossi, R., Fulcheri, E. (2017). The Placenta as the Mirror of the Foetus. In: Malvasi, A., Tinelli, A., Di Renzo, G. (eds) Management and Therapy of Late Pregnancy Complications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48732-8_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48732-8_1
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