Umbilical cord blood is a rich source of stem cells and used to treat many medical conditions, such as Leukemia and Lymphoma. It is being used for regenerative therapies including Cerebral Palsy, Type 1 Diabetes, Heart Diseases etc.
Millions of stem cells circulate through your baby’s blood. A portion of this blood, which is abundant in stem cells, is left in the umbilical cord after the cord is cut. By puncturing the umbilical vein, it is possible to extract between 60 and 200 millilitres of valuable blood. The collection is simple, safe, and painless, and it poses no threat to the mother and child. The stem cells are healthy at this point, typically virus-free, incredibly active, and dividing quickly.
After childbirth, blood that remains in the placenta and in the attached umbilical cord is known as Cord blood (umbilical cord blood). Cord blood is collected because it contains rich abundant source of stem cells, which can be used to treat hematopoietic and genetic disorders such as cancer and many other critical medical conditions.
Red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, platelets are all present in the cord blood. There are some variations in the blood’s composition when compared to whole blood.
The interest in cord blood is sparked by the observation that cord blood also contains various types of stem and progenitor cells, mostly hematopoietic stem cells. Cord blood also contains some non-hematopoietic stem cell types and is used the same way that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is used to rebuild bone marrow following radiation treatment for various blood cancers, and for various forms of anemia. It also has comparable efficacy.
Stem cells are abundant in the umbilical cord fluid. They can fight cancer, blood diseases, and some immune system disorders, which disrupt your body’s natural defense mechanisms. The fluid is simple to gather and contains 10 times more stem cells than bone marrow-derived stem cells. Stem cells from cord blood rarely carry any infectious diseases and are half as likely to be rejected as adult stem cells.
Since there was no known use for umbilical cord blood, it was discarded along with the placenta. It is now known that hematopoietic stem cells found in umbilical cord blood have the potential to save lives. Compared to bone marrow or peripheral stem cells, umbilical cord blood has numerous significant advantages when used in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The volume of umbilical cord blood that can be used for adult hematopoietic transplantation can be enhanced by using combined units of umbilical cord blood. More than 50,000 transplants have likely been carried out in children and adults since the first successful umbilical cord blood transplant in 1988 to treat inherited metabolic disorders, hematological cancers, and genetic blood and immune system problems.
