To date, if not all, then many have heard about stem cells. The topic is of particular interest to future parents who are on the path to deciding on the preservation of blood from the umbilical cord of their newborn baby. The health of the child can directly depend on the correctness of their choice.
Let's talk about why cord blood is stored in special banks. In addition, we consider its characteristics and methods of application.
What is umbilical cord blood?
This name was given to the blood, which is taken from the umbilical cord of the baby and the placenta immediately after birth. Its value lies in the large concentration of stem cells, which have many positive characteristics.
What are stem cells?
Cord blood cells are called stem cells. They are the main "building blocks" in the structure of the body's immune system. In addition, stem cells have such an interesting feature as the possibility of division throughout the entire life cycle. This helps restore any body tissue. And stem cells are able to differentiate absolutely into any other type of cells, of which there are more than two hundred.
How is cord blood harvested?
So how should cord blood be collected? It is immediately worth noting that this procedure is completely painless for both mom and her newborn baby. In addition, it does not carry any danger in itself.
Immediately after birth, a needle is inserted into the umbilical cord vein, through which blood flows by gravity into a special bag. It already contains a anti-clotting fluid. In total, from 50 to 250 ml of blood comes out, which contains from 3 to 5 percent of stem cells.
After leaving the placenta, the obstetrician cuts off about 10-20 centimeters of the umbilical cord and places it in a special package.
All biomaterials must be delivered to the laboratory within 4-6 hours. There they are processed, frozen and stored.
Shelf life of stem cells and their use
The preservation of cord blood is a process that must occur in compliance with all necessary rules and norms. After all, it depends on him the time of "life" of stem cells.
With proper storage, this period can be tens of years, which is confirmed by the fact that the first blood bank was opened back in 1993. From that moment until our time the first taken stem cells from cord blood are stored.
There can be no doubt that this biomaterial is 100% in the future suitable directly for the child himself. In addition, studies have shown that close relatives (parents, brothers and sisters) can also use valuable liquid. In this case, the probability that the blood is perfect, is within 25%.
Adult Stem Cells
After reading the above information, the question may arise: why do stem cells need to be collected from a newborn baby? Are they really not in the body of an adult? Of course there is. But!
The main difference is the concentration of stem cells in the blood. With age, their number is constantly decreasing. This will help verify the results of studies: in newborns, 1 stem cell per 10 thousand cells of the body, in adolescence - 100 thousand, and after 50 years - 500 thousand. At the same time, not only their quantity, but also the quality is reduced. Cord stem cells are much more active than those extracted from bone marrow. The main reason for this is their youth.
Why is it necessary to save blood from the umbilical cord
Modern medicine has advanced far and can do a lot. But still there are some diseases, the cure for which has not yet been invented. It is in such cases that the solution to the situation may be the use of cord blood, or more precisely, the stem cells that are contained in it. For example, these may be diseases of the immune system. This also includes cases where it is necessary to restore bone marrow or blood, as well as biomaterial used for the speediest tissue regeneration after suffering extensive burns or wounds.
Even if the baby was born completely healthy, this does not guarantee that he will not need stem cells throughout his life. In addition, they can be used to treat close relatives. Therefore, it is still worth giving birth to think about the collection of umbilical cord blood in order to ensure the possibility, if something happens, to restore the health of not only the child, but also the rest of the family.
Cord Blood Treatment
It was mentioned above that cord blood and stem cells that it contains are a real panacea for getting rid of many serious illnesses. But without concrete examples, such words will remain only empty sounds. Therefore, let us recall some of the most common diseases (although there are more than 80 of them), which can be eliminated through the use of such biomaterial. For convenience, they will all be divided into interconnected groups.
Blood diseases:
- lymphoma
- hemoglobinuria;
- refractory and aplastic anemia;
- sickle cell anemia;
- Waldenstrom;
- paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria;
- acute and chronic leukemia ;
- Fanconi anemia;
- macroglobulinemia;
- myelodysplasia.
Autoimmune diseases:
- rheumatoid arthritis;
- cerebral palsy;
- spinal cord injury;
- stroke;
- Alzheimer's disease;
- systemic scleroderma;
- diseases of the nervous system;
- Parkinson's disease.
Oncological diseases:
- neuroblastoma;
- cancer (breast, kidney, ovary, testis);
- small cell lung cancer ;
- Ewing's sarcoma;
- rhabdomyosarcoma;
- a brain tumor;
- thymoma.
Other congenital and acquired diseases:
- metabolic disorders;
- immunodeficiency;
- diabetes;
- muscle dystrophy;
- cirrhosis of the liver;
- AIDS;
- histiocytosis;
- amyloidosis.
Special indications and contraindications for preserving umbilical cord blood
There are situations when it is necessary to pay special attention to the conservation of cord blood. This applies when:
- family members are representatives of different nationalities;
- someone from the family was diagnosed with blood diseases or malignant diseases;
- the family has many children;
- the family already has sick children;
- pregnancy occurred after IVF;
- there are suspicions that in the future there may be a need for the use of stem cells.
But it also happens that maintaining stem cells is prohibited. This occurs in cases of a positive result for the presence of diseases such as hepatitis B and C, syphilis, HIV-1 and HIV-2, T-cell leukemia.
How effective is stem cell treatment?
Scientists have long been aware of the beneficial functions that cord blood has. And today, active research is being conducted on the use of stem cells for the treatment of various diseases. It is worth noting that they are quite successful, and in the near future thanks to cord blood, it will be possible to get rid of many diseases. In addition, in the laboratory, stem cells can grow a new full-fledged organ! Such a discovery has advanced medicine far ahead and put it, so to speak, on a new stage of evolution.
What is a stem cell bank and what does it do?
After the decision was made to preserve cord blood, it remains to deal with just one question: where will it be stored? Are there special places for such purposes? The answer, of course, is yes.
The cord blood stem cell bank is the place where such valuable biological material will be stored in compliance with all necessary standards. In this case, there are two registers: registered and public.
In the first case, the blood from the umbilical cord of the child belongs to his parents, and only they can dispose of it. But in such a situation, they will have to pay for all services on their own, from taking and processing to storage.
Anyone can use the stem cells of the public registry when such a need arises.
Stem Cell Bank Selection
When choosing a storage bank for stem cells, it is necessary to focus on several important points. Let's consider each of them in more detail.
- The lifetime of the bank. In this regard, everything is logical, because the more time an organization works, the more customers trust it, mainly due to confidence in its stability. In addition, employees of such a bank usually have extensive experience working with umbilical cord blood.
- Availability of a license. This is a must. The bank must have a permit for the collection, transport and storage of stem cells, which was issued by the Health Committee.
- The base of the institution. It is best to choose a bank that is located on the basis of a research institute or medical institution. This will guarantee that they will have all the conditions for working with biological material and its storage.
- Availability of necessary equipment. The bank must be equipped with a double centrifuge, as well as Sepax and Macopress devices.
- Existence of a system for automatic control of cryostorages. This will help to control the temperature in the room with cord blood samples, as well as receive reports on their storage for placement in a special archive.
- Availability of courier service. This is necessary so that bank employees can quickly come to the maternity ward, collect umbilical cord blood and deliver it to the laboratory. The preservation of viability of stem cells directly depends on the efficiency of their work.
- The bank conducts research in the field of cellular technology. This item is no less important than everyone else. In addition, the bank should cooperate with medical institutions and leading research institutes of the city.
- The presence of round-the-clock protection. This item does not require further explanation.
Among other things, you can further clarify whether the bank has experience with stem cells for treatment. Having a positive answer will be just another plus.
So we got acquainted with the question "what is umbilical cord blood." Its use, as we see, is indicated for the treatment of serious diseases when medications are already powerless. But in any case, the decision to collect the umbilical cord blood of his newborn child or not, is made only by his parents.