A look at the umbilical
cord blood vessel.

The umbilical cord.

The umbilical cord is considered the unborn baby's supply line because through the use of each umbilical cord blood vessel babies are able to take all the nutrients and oxygen required from mum. There are three blood vessels present in an umbilical cord; two are arteries and one is a vein and each umbilical cord blood vessel performs it's own task to ensure the safety and continued health of your baby while he or she is still inside you.

What do the cord blood vessels do?

The vein transports oxygen to the baby while the two arteries carry wastage to the mother's blood stream where it is disposed of by mum's kidney. Unfortunately, with some pregnancies it is possible for confusions and problems to occur where an umbilical cord only has two blood vessels, missing one of the arteries. This occurs in approximately 1 case from every 100 and of these cases around three quarters is born with no problem whatsoever. However, in 25% of the cases problems can occur including chromosomal abnormalities. Pre-natal scanning will usually indicate the cases where only artery is existent and further scans and tests will also reveal whether the baby is likely to suffer any other problems as a result.

There are other problems that can occur with the umbilical cord including knots, prolapsing and compression. Each of these problems can have a negative effect on one of the umbilical cord blood vessels and eventually lead to problems with the birth or even prenatal problems.

What happens to the blood cord after birth?

The umbilical cord really is vital to the unborn baby, but once they are born and take their first few breaths independently of the mother, the umbilical cord becomes useless. At this point the cord is usually clamped and cut and once it has been removed it is discarded along with the placenta. However, there is a way that the umbilical cord and the placenta can continue to help the baby even once it has been born. The umbilical cord and the placenta are both high in stem cells. These stem cells are existent from a few days after conception within the embryo, and they eventually go on to form other cells, tissue and even major organs. Stem cells are used in procedures such as bone marrow transplants because they can help a body rejuvenate when it has been attacked by disease.

Replacing bone marrow transplants.

Bone marrow transplants have served a vital purpose to medicine and sickness for many years but the umbilical cord and, in particular, the blood within it looks set to take this throne away from bone marrow. Cord blood is proven to have a much greater amount of stem cells in it as the same amount of bone marrow and because the blood cord stem cells have yet to begin their transformation they can be used to create any of a number of vital parts to the human body. Stemgem fot stem cells are of particular interest to researchers because of their potential uses in the treatment of many of these diseases.

At present research has only provided us with the possibilities of using them in a similar manner to how bone marrow is used but there is clear evidence that the stem cells created in umbilical cord blood will be able to deal with diseases other than those related to the blood. Another area of interest to scientists and researchers is how to obtain embryonic germ stem cells without destroying the embryo. While at present this doesn't seem possible further research will confirm or deny the possibility.

More on cord blood tranplants