The placenta of the four‐eyed opossum (philander opossum)Philander opossum)

AbstractThe placental membranes of the four‐eyed opossum were studied by light and electron microscopy. The individual fetuses in each uterus were surrounded by amnion, had allantoic sacs of approximately the same size as each fetus, and were situated in a common yolk sac cavity. The extent of the choriovitelline placenta was marked by a prominent sinus terminalis, and at this margin there was a region where the trophoblast cells penetrated folds of the endometrium. Elsewhere the choriovitelline placenta was closely applied to the uterine epithelium along most of its surface, but the microvilli of the two epithelia did not interdigitate. Numerous inclusion bodies were seen in the trophoblast of both the choriovitelline and bilaminar omphalopleure portions of the placenta, but the aggregates were larger in the latter. The endoderm cells of the choriovitelline placenta had extensive endoplasmic reticulum and numerous mitochondria, but did not have conspicuous absorption canaliculi.Placentation in the four‐eyed opossum appears to represent a progressive advance over that of the Virginia opossum both in confluence of the yolk sacs of the fetuses and in having a region of penetration of the maternal endometrium by trophoblast.