IMPLANTATION, DEVELOPMENT OF THE FETAL MEMBRANES, AND PLACENTATION IN THE CAPTIVE BLACK MASTIFF BAT, MOLOSSUS-ATER

Uterine events during pregnancy were examined histologically in laboratorybred black mastiff bats (Molossus ater) as part of an effort to develop this species as a model for studies of the factors controlling trophoblastic growth. Embryos entered the uterus at the morula stage and in most cases shed their zonae pellucidae reasonably intact, apparently as blastocyst expansion occurred. Implantation was superficial and observed to occur only in the right uterine horn. During implantation the trophoblast was brought into apposition to the endometrium by both blastocyst expansion and closure of the uterine lumen. A decidual reaction was evident at an early stage of uterine epithelial displacement and spread rapidly through the endometrium. Initial trophoblastic proliferation occurred along the uterine lumen and into the glands, while its invasion of the endometrial stroma was delayed. Although one or several primordial cavities have been observed to develop within the epiblast during implantation, these subsequently opened to a trophoepiblastic cavity, and the definitive amnion was formed by folding. A choriovitelline placenta was present briefly at the somite stage, but disappeared as the exocoelom enlarged and the yolk sac collapsed. The latter persisted through pregnancy, however, as a glandular‐appearing body. As the yolk sac retracted from the chorion, it was replaced by allantoic mesoderm, creating a diffuse labyrinthine endotheliodichorial placenta. This was prominent during mid‐gestation, but was supplanted by the discoidal hemochorial placenta as the major site of feto‐maternal exchange during late pregnancy. Copyright © 1990 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.