RESUMO
Histological, histochemical and histostereometric examination of 115 placentas and liver of 55 stillborns and newborns from mothers with a cardiovascular pathology was performed. The structural changes in the placenta were as follows: its early maturation (stromal proliferation and sclerosis), dissociated changes in the villi maturation, significant decrease of a vascular bed relative volume, syncytiocapillary membranes, syncytial cover of the villi. A reduction of the glycogen content and an accumulation of lipids in the branching part of chorion was found histochemically. Fat and proteinaceous degeneration, abundant foci of extramedullary haematopoiesis, portal surface increase (sometimes with a disturbance of the bile duct structure), increase of the lipid content and decrease of the reaction to glycogen were revealed in the liver of dead foetuses and newborns dying in early neonatal period.