Some “boolean” concepts The following series of slides is not supposed to give you answers, but to provide substance for thought and ponder. The placenta is unique in many ways and hundreds of actions of all types are taking place simultaneously, with an intimate interdependency and reciprocity in many of them. The concept of webs (neural networks) with boolean characteristics underline the tremendous difficulties faced by investigators when trying to identify the effects on a single variable inside such webs that cannot be simulated at the laboratory. The placenta with its maternal component might well be one of such webs. Each sphere represents one variable or group of variables in a given process inside the placenta, or better, in the intervillous space. Only a very small fraction of all functions inside the IVS has been schematized.

REDES "BOOLEANAS" Dr. M. López-Llera M. CADA VARIABLE DEPENDE DE OTRAS VARIABLES Potencial de AUTO-ORGANIZACION

La placenta "booleana" Dr. M. López-Llera M. ENTRADAS SALIDAS Turbulencias Descamación Fragmentación Deportación Fugas / Mezclas Microtrombósis Estrés celular Reto inmunológico Act. plaquetaria Hipóxia / isquémia ¿ ? PROCESOS EN EL BORDE DEL CAOS Todo tiene relación con todo NO-LINEALES Condiciones Locales

In webs such as the one shown here, it does not matter which variable (function) was altered first, since they are all interconnected. Once the necessary stimulus works, the whole system will be affected in a matter of seconds or minutes, making it practically impossible to determine the true location and timing of the initial abnormality. That is, if this abnormality came as a single change, because it could have come also as a complex (group) of stimuli and changes. Some parts of complex systems and sometimes the complete system itself must be approached as a whole. The web and the location and timing of the stimuli

Accidentes "booleanos" Dr. M. López-Llera M. ENTRADAS SALIDAS Turbulencias Descamación Fragmentación Deportación Fugas / Mezclas Microtrombósis Estrés celular Reto inmunológico Act. plaquetaria Hipóxia / isquémia ¿ ? PROCESOS EN EL BORDE DEL CAOS Todo tiene relación con todo NO-LINEALES Condiciones Locales

4.50 m o.22 m membrana de Sincicio-trofoblasto 1.65 m FUNCION / DISFUNCION INTEGRIDAD / RUPTURA Medio Materno medio fetal Tamaño de Placenta grado de imperfección grado de desorden Daño local difuso SUPERFICIE DE MEMBRANA * * * * * * * * * * 20 m2 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Placenta as a Membrane If extended the trophoblast lining the villi would make a film covering an area of something like 20 square meters, constantly washed by maternal blood on one side. What could be the most typical dysfunction of such a large membrane ? Can this general dysfunction express itself differently depending of the original challenge or, since there is no compartmentalization no obvious specialization, the responses are limitted and most follow similar pathogenetical routes ?