What is Cord Blood?

Umbilical Cord blood is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta after the baby is born. The amazing thing about this blood is that it comes from a source which until few years ago used to be routinely discarded as medical waste. Ever since scientists discovered that the cord blood contains stem cells, the umbilical cord has become a different kind of lifeline, one whose utility far outlasts the period of pregnancy.

Cord blood is rich in stem cells. Ounce for ounce cord blood contains many times more blood producing cell than bone marrow.

What are Stem Cells?

All human life starts from a single cell. As the embryo grows these cells rapidly multiply and do what they are programmed to do--- create some 200 different cell types in the body to form a full grown baby. The Master Cells that drives this growth and development are stem cells. stem cells are Naïve, Undifferentiated cells present in our body which have the capacity to multiply and differentiate into specific cell types.

Miraculous Ability of Stem Cells:

All stem cells—regardless of their source are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long period’s process called as self renewal

They are unspecialized cells and can give rise to specialized cell types, a process called Differentiation.

There are basically two different types of stem cells:

Adult Stem Cells: Undifferentiated stem cells found in specialized tissues that can self renew and give rise to differentiated cells such as skin, neurons and hematopoietic cells. Adult stem cells are found in bone marrow, circulating peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood.

Embryonic Stem Cells: Derived from an embryo and capable of giving rise to most of the tissues of an organism. They are highly controversial and often at the heart of moral debates.

For 40 years, doctors have been using one source of stem cells from bone marrow to treat malignant diseases especially leukemias and lymphomas and non –malignant diseases like immune deficiencies and congenital blood disorders. The type of stem cells used in bone marrow transplants are Hematopoietic stem cells which can give rise to red blood cells that deliver oxygen, white blood cells that fight off infection and platelets that control bleeding.

What are Cord Blood stem cells? Umbilical cord blood is an alternative and a richer and non-controversial source of Hematopoietic as well as Mesenchymal stem cells.
Currently, cord blood stem cells are used in transplant medicine to regenerate a patient’s blood and immune system after they have been treated with chemotherapy and radiation to destroy cancer or defective cells.