Have you wondered how the tiny stem cells procured from a baby's umbilical cord hold the potential to treat severe diseases like cancer and others? During pregnancy, the umbilical cord connects the fetus to the mother, delivering the baby all the essential nutrients and water to assist in the baby's development.
The umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells, or hematopoietic stem cells, usually in the bone marrow. However, the cord blood stem cells have more potential than bone marrow as they are not very mature. These cord blood stem cells can differentiate into various cells in the body. Let's learn how stem cells work in stem cell therapy and highlight the importance of stem cell banking.
Working for Stem Cells in our Body - Explained
The stem cells originate from embryonic, perinatal, and adult tissues. Perinatal stem cells are present in the umbilical cord, and amniotic fluid is in the womb. These stem cells undergo differentiation to produce daughter cells with specialized functions. Stem cells are differentiated into nerve cells, cardiac cells, blood cells, liver cells, etc.
Here's a detailed description explaining how stem cells work:
- After the delivery, the doctor cuts the umbilical cord from the baby and collects the umbilical cord blood. The sample is sent to the laboratory, where the stem cells are isolated from the umbilical cord and stored through cryogenic preservation.
Read also:What Is Umbilical Cord Clamping and It's Type
- When there is a requirement for these cord cells, the stored cells are thawed in a water bath with a minimal temperature of 37°C. Later, the viability of the cells is tested. After the viability check, the cells are infused into the patient intravenously.
- The infused cord blood stem cells migrate to the bone marrow, and the differentiation begins in the bone marrow. The stem cells destroy the damaged cells and produce new cells as a replacement.
- Since the patient is in a precarious condition, it takes around two to three weeks to regenerate the stem cells and protect the body.
- Anti-rejection drugs are given intravenously to prepare the immune system to accept the newly generated cells and reduce the chances of Graft vs. Host disease.
How the Preserved Stem Cells Can Be Utilized?
Hematopoietic stem cells can cure life-threatening diseases. The applications of hematopoietic stem cells are listed below:
- Stem cells replace malignant cells with new cells, help in wound healing and treat spinal cord injuries.
- Stem cells therapy are used for to treat immune disorders and pave the way for stem cell research.
- Hematopoietic stem cells are used in the transplantation of bone marrow and assist in tissue repair and grafting.
- These stem cells are widely used for treating leukaemia, Fanconi anaemia, and other diseases.
Wrapping up,
Stem cells have been proven beneficial in various aspects, such as treating diseases, and play a vital role in the development of stem cell research. Cord stem cells are capable of dividing infinite times. These stem cells are known for replacing the damaged body cells with the new ones.
Cryoviva provides the best stem cell banking services in India. We use SEPAX, a Swiss-patented technology, to process the stem cells at our accredited cGMP and cGTP laboratories to preserve hematopoietic stem cells. Preserve your child's stem cells at Cryoviva immediately after birth. Contact our experts to learn about our services and the procedure for stem cell banking.