An international network (PlaNet) to evaluate a human placental testing platform for chemicals safety testing in pregnancy

The human placenta is a critical life-support system that nourishes and protects a rapidly growing fetus; a unique organ, species specific in structure and function. We consider the pressing challenge of providing additional advice on the safety of prescription medicines and environmental exposures in pregnancy and how ex vivo and in vitro human placental models might be advanced to reproducible human placental test systems (HPTSs), refining a weight of evidence to the guidance given around compound risk assessment during pregnancy. The placental pharmacokinetics of xenobiotic transfer, dysregulated placental function in pregnancy-related pathologies and influx/efflux transporter polymorphisms are a few caveats that could be addressed by HPTSs, not the specific focus of current mammalian reproductive toxicology systems. An international consortium, “PlaNet”, will bridge academia, industry and regulators to consider screen ability and standardisation issues surrounding these models, with proven reproducibility for introduction into industrial and clinical practice.