Health Articles : Blood Cells
Blood Cells : Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cell
Blood Cell CancerBlood is a circulating tissue composed of fluid plasma and cells. It carries nourishment and oxygen to the various tissues and takes away carbon ..... The stem cells have the totipotent tendency. Thus they define the properties of meristematic tissue. The umbilical cord blood is human blood from the placenta and umbilical cord that is rich in haemopoeitic stem cells. The umbilical cord is the narrow tube line structure that connects the developing baby or the fetus to the placenta. This is rightly called the baby’s lifeline. The versatility and the availability of the umbilical cord cells make them the potent resource for the transplant therapies. The cord blood stem cell is more proliferating and higher chances of compatibility than the bone marrow transplants.
The advantages: The unrelated donor (URD) umbilical cord blood (UCB) has advantages over the other transplant techniques. This is a valuable source for the endothelial progenitor cells (EPC). The umbilical cord blood stem transplants are highly compatible. This is because the cells are recognized and not attacked by a persons’ immune system. The umbilical blood lacks the immune system hence this is never attacked by the immune system of the body that is termed as the graft versus the host diseases. The umbilical cord blood is rich in cord cells. The stem is non-specialized cells that are capable of generating all the other types of blood cells, platelets, RBCs and WBCs.
Red Blood Cell DisorderRed blood cells carry oxygen and supply it to all the tissues throughout the entire body. RBCs are also called erythrocytes. RBCs supply oxygen from ..... Collection of the Cells: There are two methods of collection in-utero and ex-utero that correspondingly mean inside and outside the uterus. The cord blood is selected by gravity draining, yielding about 40 to 150ml. If parents use a commercial bank, the initial cost ranges from $250 to $1,500, plus an annual storage fee of $50 to $100. Some health insurance companies are beginning to cover these costs. This could be decided before the birth of a child. Even the public banks pay for processing blood samples. At present certain blood banks store the whole blood samples, red cells, white cells in a frozen state. The cord blood is processed and depleted of red blood cells before being stored in liquid nitrogen. When this blood is needed it is thawed and washed of the cryoprotectant and then injected in the patients’ blood stream. This is called ‘allogenic treatment’.
|