Genetics and umbilical
cord blood.

Advances in medical science.

Advances in medicine and medical science are constantly progressing and new procedures, drugs and discoveries are always being made especially in the field of genetics, umbilical cord blood is just one of the latest subjects. It has been discovered that umbilical cord blood is high in primitive stem cells that can grow to form any of the cells our bodies need to survive and regenerate. Previously, cells of this nature had been extracted solely from the bone marrow of willing donors but these recent advances have seen stem cell transplants from umbilical cord become more and more popular.

What are stem cells?

Stem cells are a truly incredible part of the human body. Other cells are already conditioned to perform certain tasks and their role cannot be changed under any circumstance. A liver cell will always remain a liver cell. These conditioned cells cannot regenerate when they die off either. Stem cells, on the other hand, are very different to other cells. They are constantly regenerating when we are very young and they also have the capability to become any cell within our body that is required. This potential means that stem cells could hold the key to unlocking many diseases that have previously been considered untreatable.

Stem cell transfusions.

At present, stem cells are used in transfusions for people who suffer from diseases that originate at the bone marrow within our bodies; diseases such as leukemia and anemia. This is because the only source we really knew existed was bone marrow in adults. To be more accurate, doctors knew that stem cells also existed in the blood stream but too much blood was required to retrieve a reasonable amount of viable stem cells, and also in the brain randomly intermingled with millions of other cells.

Primitive stem cells.

However, doctors discovered that these wonder cells were present in high quantities in the unborn fetus, the umbilical cord blood, the placenta and more lately even in baby's teeth. There are obvious arguments surrounding the use of an aborted fetus to collect stem cells, although researchers are now able to use aborted fetuses in a bid to further their research. Baby's teeth, while containing stem cells, only contain them in fairly small amounts making this an unviable source of stem cells but this leaves us with umbilical cord blood and placental blood. Both are rich in primitive stem cells that are not found in the adult body.

The advantages of primitive stem cells over adult stem cells.

Primitive stem cells show a very high level of plasticity that is not seen in adult stem cells and this means they have the potential to become any cell that our bodies may require. In comparison, adult stem cells show much less plasticity because they already serve a particular purpose. In the case of bone marrow stem cells, they can only be used to form other specialist blood cells and while they have exceptional uses in the treatment of appropriate diseases, more primitive stem cells could potentially be used to treat almost any degenerative disease whatsoever.

The danger of tissue rejection.

The act of transfusing tissue from one patient to another has one serious drawback, and that is the rejection of the tissue within the patient's body. The tissue must be matched as perfectly as possible to the body and the immune system of the patient otherwise the tissue is likely to be rejected. This rejection may not simply mean the operation wasn't a success and, moreover, can lead to serious and further damage of the patient's immune system.

What is therapeutic cloning?

Korean scientists have found a way to combat this problem, however, using cloning. The mere mention of the word cloning often has people running scared but this type of cloning does not result in a cloned person or even a cloned sheep. Therapeutic cloning means that doctors can clone the embryo of a healthy mother. This embryo will contain a stem cell so primitive that it can even form further stem cells. The DNA of the parents is stripped from this embryo and the DNA of the patient is inserted. This means that the stem cell is guaranteed to be a perfect match to the patient's own blood. This procedure has been met with a lot of opposition, one such example is the paper Adult Stem Cells J. C. Willke MD that is a pro life argument against embryonic stem cell transplants.

Current stem cell transplants using umbilical cord blood.

Stem cell transplants using umbilical cord blood have already been carried out and thanks to pioneering research and testing the possibilities of stem cell transplants look truly incredible. Heart failure may not necessarily be the life-threatening problem that it is now and Parkinson's could soon become a thing of the past. Donating your cord blood could help millions of people including yourself and your family members.

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