Fetal cells remain in the mother's body for 27 years after birth



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Did you know that fetal cells stay in the mother's body for a long time when they pass through the blood to help the body heal?

This phenomenon is known as fetomaternal microchimerism, discovered for the first time in the late 19th century. In fact, the exchange of cells between the mother and the child occurs easily, which explains to some extent the existence of the Y chromosome (Y chromosome), sometimes in the mother's cells .

Because these chromosomes are found only in men, this proves their transmission by the fetus present in the body of the mother.

"The process of cell exchange begins about six weeks after conception and lasts until the baby is born," says Amy Bude, a biologist at the University of California. These cells can remain in the mother's body until death, playing an important role in maintaining maternal health.

In contrast, we still do not know exactly what types of these cells are likely to be stem cells as they can end up in many types of tissues, according to author Gerald Sinclair in the report published on the Orness Act website.

In 2015, a team of scientists from the Medical Center of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands conducted an experiment in which tissues were collected from 26 women who died during delivery (all were pregnant). A male child) or later.

Maternal bodies
Scientists have reported that wi chromosomes were present in the mother's body, confirming that fetal cells, male or female, could infiltrate into the uterus. It seems that women are getting these embryonic cells, which can die or stay in their bodies in the long run.

"It turns out that all pregnant women have embryonic cells in addition to fetal DNA, where the mother's blood plasma is 6%," said Nancy Schott, who wrote on the subject in the journal The Scientific American. However, after the baby is born, the rate drops rapidly. Some cells can stay in their body.

In 1996, Diana Bianchi, a geneticist at the Tufts Medical Center, discovered fetal cells in her mother's blood 27 years after the birth of her baby.

In addition, the results showed that fetal cells not only infiltrate the mother but also maintain maternal health. But with the multiplicity of research in this new field, disconcerting contradictions have appeared about these strange and rare elements.

Some scientists have discovered the role of these cells in the autoimmune disease of the mother, one of the most common diseases in women. The researchers found embryonic cells in the skin of patients with scleroderma and in the spleen of women with systemic scleroderma, both of whom are on the list of autoimmune diseases.

But recent studies have suggested that embryonic cells could actually protect women against autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis. However, these effects may be due to the response of the mother's immune system to the baby's cells.

Test
In this context, Bianchi, who is currently studying how to use DNA for the fetus and ribosome DNA in the mother's blood for prenatal testing, said that evidence supported it.

Research has shown that childbirth reduces the risk of breast cancer in the future, and that the fetal cell count in the blood of breast cancer mothers is lower than that of uninfected mothers.

The immune response to embryonic stem cells can help detect cancer cells. In fact, fetal cells have been found in the cervix of cancer patients, but none in the cervix of healthy women.

Like cancer cells, some embryonic cells can proliferate to infinity. Studies in mice have shown that embryonic stem cells are clustered around lung tumors. To date, researchers do not know how far fetal cells affect tumors, but they are not ready to confirm the benefits of these cells for maternal health.

Although little is known about the subject, scientists hope to better understand these effects over time. In fact, many studies have been conducted on this issue, so we may be able to identify the benefits of these cells and why they remain in the mother's body.

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