See Also: placenta, low(medicine)
placenta(encyclopedia)
Placenta(medicine)
placenta(dictionary)
Placenta(health)
in the placenta(medicine)
placenta(dictionary)
low placenta(medicine)
placenta membranacea(medicine)
placenta multipartita(medicine)

systemic (iou) and placenta (sh)


systemic (iou)



systemic adjective & noun. E19.
[Irreg. from SYSTEM + -IC.]
A. adjective.
a. Physiology & Medicine. Of, pertaining to, or affecting the system or body as a whole; esp. designating the General circulation, as distinguished from the pulmonary circulation supplying the respiratory organs. E19.
b. Pertaining to or affecting a particular system of bodily organs. L19.
c. Of a herbicide, insecticide, or fungicide: entering the system of a plant or animal and freely transported within its tissues. M20.
gen. Of or pertaining to a system or systems; systematic. M19.
systemic grammar, systemic linguistics Linguistics a method of analysis based on the conception of language as a network of systems determining the options from which speakers choose in accordance with their communicative goals.
b. noun. A systemic herbicide, insecticide, or fungicide. M20.
systemically adverb L19.

placenta (sh)




Organ in most mammals that develops in the uterus along with a fetus to mediate metabolic exchange.

The umbilical cord attaches it to the fetus at the navel. Nutrients and oxygen in the mother's blood pass across the placenta to the fetus, and metabolic wastes and carbon dioxide from the fetus cross in the Other direction; the two blood supplies do not mix. Other substances (e.g., alcohol or drugs) in the mother's blood can also cross the placenta, with effects including congenital disorders and drug Addiction in the newborn (see fetal alcohol syndrome); some microorganisms can cross it to infect the fetus, but so do the mother's antibodies. The placenta, weighing a pound or more at the end of Pregnancy, is expelled at parturition. Some animals eat it as a source of nutrients; in some species this stimulates lactation.