Tollywood popular actor Ram Charan and Upasana had a baby on 20th June 2023.
A week before childbirth, Upasana tweeted that the baby’s umbilical cord blood will be stored at StemCyteIndia .
Bollywood actresses Kajol and Shilpa Shetty, actor Mahesh Babu’s wife Namrata also preserved their children’s umbilical cord blood in this way.
So what is umbilical cord blood preservation and why is it preserved? Let’s have a look.
What is Umbilical Cord?
The umbilical cord connects the baby’s belly to the placenta in the mother’s womb. Through this, the baby gets oxygen and glucose and other nutrients from the mother.
The umbilical cord contains two blood vessels. The artery carries urea and carbon dioxide from the baby to the blood vessels of the mother.
On the other hand, oxygen and other nutrients reach the baby through the vein.
Even after the baby comes out of the womb, the baby is connected to the placenta through the umbilical cord.
After the child birth, the umbilical cord would be cut and tied to separate the baby from the placenta.
Doctors term this process as umbilical cord clipping.
Why is the umbilical cord important?
Some blood remains in the umbilical cord and placenta after the baby is born. This is called cord blood.
Earlier, people used to think that, the umbilical cord along with the placenta was waste. But, some medical researches has shown that these include hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) or hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs).
Similar stem cells are found in the umbilical cord and bones.
Benefits of storing stem cells
Storing stem cells from umbilical cords and placentas after birth is called “cord blood banking”.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that these cells could be useful in the treatment of certain diseases.
Some examples of this are treatments for diseases like leukemia, thalassemia, sickle cell anemia, myelomas, and lymphoma.
Store as quick as possible
Once the blood is collected from the umbilical cord and placentas, it is transported to the laboratories as quickly as possible.
There the necessary tests are conducted. It is then stored in a liquid nitrogen tank at minimum temperatures.
Plasma depletion (PD) technology is used to store these blood cells. This means removing the plasma from the blood and carefully preserving all the blood cells.
Who can donate cord blood?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggests that it is better to donate this cord blood than to store it for future illnesses in children.
“These cord blood cells have the power to transform into other blood cells. So they are useful for transplants in the treatment of some blood-borne disorders, immunodeficiencies, metabolic diseases and some types of cancer,” says AAP.
(Note: This article is just for basic understanding purposes only, Correction suggestions are always welcome)
