Umbilical Cord

       The umbilical cord (also called the birth cord or funiculus umbilicalis) is the linking cord from the growing fetus or embryo to the placenta. During prenatal development, the umbilical cord arrive from the same zygote as the fetus and in humans typically contains two arteries (the umbilical arteries) and one vein (the umbilical vein), hidden within Wharton's jelly. The umbilical vein delivers the fetus with oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood from the placenta. Likewise, the umbilical arteries return the deoxygenated, nutrient-depleted blood.

Umbilical Cord Blood and Umbilical Cord Stem Cells

       Blood that remains in the placenta and in the attached umbilical cord after birth delivery is called cord blood. Cord blood is taken from the umbilical cord at the time of childbirth, after the cord has been cut off from the newborn. Cord blood is secured and collected because it contain stem cells, including hematopoietic cells, which can be used to cure hematopoietic and genetic disorders. Some placental blood may be retained to the neonatal circulation if the umbilical cord is not prematurely held tightly. If the umbilical cord is not held tightly, such as in an extended-delayed cord clamping protocol, a physiological after birth occlusion exists upon combining with cold air, when the internal sticky substance, called Wharton's jelly, swells around the umbilical artery and veins.

Question: Are cord blood stem cells differ from other stem cells?

Answer: Yes. When compared to adult stem cells, cord blood stem cells are biologically incomparable and are beneficial because of their higher rates of proliferation, immunological immaturity, and lessened exposure to viruses and aging. Unlike embryonic stem cells, cord blood cells are proven safe in the human body and have been effectively used for years in medical treatment.

Umbilical Cord Banking

       Cord blood banking is a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of good fortune for parents to use the stems cells found in the blood in the umbilical cord of their newborn baby. Cord blood banking is safe for both the mother and the newborn baby because the cord blood is taken after the baby is born and the umbilical cord has been clamped and detached. Once the cord blood has been obtained, it is delivered to a laboratory for processing and later stored in liquid nitrogen vapor.

Two general types of cord blood banks: public donation banks, and private family banks.

• In a public bank, cord blood is given free by the participating donor anonymously for potential use by a patient in need. Donors must satisfy eligibility requirements, and have childbirth in participating hospitals to donate to a public bank.
• In a private family bank, the cord blood is taken after childbirth, saved and stored for use solely by the baby and family members for future need that may arise.

Umbilical Cord Storage

       There are various methods in collecting cord blood. The method most typically used in clinical practice is the “closed technique”, which is comparable to standard blood collection techniques. With this method, the technician pricks the vein of the cut umbilical cord using a needle that is connected to a blood bag, and cord blood moves through the needle into the bag. The closed technique yields about 75 ml cord blood on the average.

Saved cord blood is cryo-preserved and then stored in a cord blood bank for future transplantation. A cord blood bank may be privately owned (i.e. the blood is preserved for and the costs shouldered by donor families) or public (i.e. saved and made freely for use by unrelated donors). While public cord blood banking is greatly supported, private cord banking is disputable in both the medical and parenting community. Although umbilical cord blood is widely recognized to be useful for treating hematopoietic and genetic disorders, some arguments encircles the collection and storage of umbilical cord blood by private banks.

Recently, it had been found out that the blood inside the umbilical cord, known as cord blood, is a rich and readily available source of primitive, undifferentiated stem cells (of type CD34-positive and CD38-negative). These cord blood cells can be used for treatment for bone marrow transplant.

Several parents have decided to have this blood diverted from the baby's umbilical blood transfer through early cord clamping and detachment, to cryopreserve for long-term storage at a cord blood bank should the child ever require the cord blood stem cells (for example, to replace destroyed bone marrow when treating leukemia). This practice is disputable, with arguments asserting that early cord blood withdrawal during childbirth actually increases the likelihood of childhood disease, due to the high quantity of blood collected (an average of 108ml) in relation to the baby's total supply (typically 300ml).

Umbilical Cord Research and Regenerative Medicine

       Regenerative medicine is a field of medical research trying treatments to repair or rejuvenate specific tissue in the body. Since a person's own autologous cord blood stem cells can be safely placed back into that individual without being rejected by the body's immune system - and because they have unique characteristics compared to other sources of stem cells - they are an increasing attention of regenerative medical research. This emerging field of medicine is pointed toward treatments for conditions such as brain injury and juvenile diabetes. There are numerous other areas in development: ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease)

• Brain injury
• Cerebral palsy
• Congenital heart defects
• Hearing loss
• Heart disease
• Juvenile diabetes
• Liver disease
• Orthopedic injury

Research in this field that has the development to change completely medicine is advancing rapidly and it is hard for professional medical societies, and other resources that expectant parents turn to for information, to keep abreast with the research. Physicians and practitioners are making significant progress evaluating the safety and effectiveness of umbilical cord blood stem cells for therapeutic uses far beyond cancers and blood disorders.

The use of cord blood stem cells in the treatment of conditions such as brain injury and Type 1 Diabetes is already being evaluated in humans, and earlier stage research is being studied for treatments of stroke and hearing loss. Present estimates indicate that more or less 1 in 3 Americans could benefit from regenerative medicine, and children whose cord blood stem cells are available for their own future use could be one among the first to benefit from new treatments as they become available.