Cord Blood Stem cells
Cord blood stem cells and cord blood banks are being promoted these days with a lot of vigour. Cord blood is the human blood from the placenta and the umbilical cord. This blood is said to be rich in hematopoietic stem cells. As soon as a baby is born, the cord blood is collected and is stored in what are called cord blood banks, both public and private.
Cord blood stem cells are used as a main source of stem cells when any transplantation is carried out. These have better chances of matching with the body system of family members when compared to the stem cells taken from the bone marrow as the former are more proliferate.
There are basically two different methods of collecting and storing cord blood stem cells. One is called the ?In Utero? method which is the process of collecting the cord blood before the placenta is delivered. The other method is the ?Ex Utero? method wherein the blood is collected after the placenta is delivered.
In the in utero method of collection, cord blood is collected after the delivery of the baby but before the delivery of the placenta takes place. On the other hand, in the ex utero method, cord blood is collected after the delivery of the placenta. Then the umbilical cord is severed from the newborn baby.
The important thing to remember after the cord blood is collected is immediately transfer the cord blood stem cells to the cord blood banks. The blood is examined and tested for infectious elements and then the type of issue is found. The next step is to process the cord blood and remove the red blood cells before storing the blood in liquid nitrogen till its use becomes necessary.
The parents of the new born have the option of donating the cord blood stem cells to a private blood bank or a public one. Normally the public cord blood banks do not charge the donors for the collection.
Cord blood stem cells have been extensively used to treat various genetic disorders and diseases right from the late 1980s after a successful transplant was undertaken using these stem cells. Some of the diseases for which these stem cells are used are cancer, genetic diseases and disorders. Due to certain medical complications, transplants are usually done using cord blood stem cells of other unrelated donors and not that of the same person.
The benefits of cord blood stem cells arise from the fact that these have the inherent ability to distinguish or change into other cell types easily. This discovery has resulted in improving the treatment of even common diseases like heart problems, strokes and Alzheimer's.
Thus cord blood stem cells have been a blessing to the cure of many ailments and interestingly extensive research is also being conducted to analyse more benefits that it could have!
frank j vanderlugt owns and operates http://www.stem-cells-2007.com Stem Cells