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In this column, we will present basic but useful information to all those interested in saving umbilical cord blood from their children or those who are interested in such stored blood for transplant purposes. Previous columns are available in our archive.

Fetal Blood

As a new human grows and develops inside of its mother, blood is made to circulate to all the vital organs and bring nutrients from the mother to the baby and waste products from the baby back to the mother. The baby is doubling in size at a very rapid pace and blood production has to keep pace. The blood flows out from the baby through two large blood vessels in the umbilical cord to the placenta, the amorphous jelly-fish like organ that connects the umbilical cord from the baby to the lining of the uterus of the mother. The placenta is sometimes called the "afterbirth." The fetal blood in the placenta exchanges waste products from the baby for nutrients and oxygen from the mother and carries the "good stuff" from the mother back to the baby through one large vessel or vein in the umbilical cord. Roughly one-third to 40% of all blood that the baby makes is out of the baby flowing to the mother or coming back from the mother.

What is so precious about fetal blood?

Well, actually for years, the fetal blood contained in the umbilical cord and the placenta was tossed into the trash can after delivery. The baby is usually delivered head first and after the baby has been delivered and taken his/her first breaths, the umbilical cord serving as the lifeline to the mother is usually tied and cut and soon thereafter the placenta, or afterbirth, is delivered. The placenta and the umbilical cord are examined and then tossed into the trash. However, some cultures were accustomed to feeding the placenta and umbilical cord to animals as a good source of protein or burying them and then planting a tree over them as sure way of giving enormous life to a new tree.

In the 1970's and 1980's, samples of the blood in the umbilical cord and placenta [all the same fetal blood!] were analyzed for the presence of stem cells, those developmentally early cells that have the capability of making all the components of the immune system and the blood forming system. As expected, the number of these stem cells was extremely high indicating the increased production of new blood cells and new immune cells due to the rapidly growing baby and the need for more blood for the vital organs present. Methods were then developed to quickly obtain the blood from the placenta and umbilical cord, before the blood clots and/or gets contaminated, and to freeze the cells for later use, testing them periodically by thawing some of them to make sure that they remained viable or living and capable of functioning long term. Although this sounds quite simple, the perfection of these techniques took years of laborious testing.

Thus fetal blood in the placenta and umbilical cord, left over from the birthing/delivery process and usually tossed out in the trash, was found to contain large numbers of stem cells which could then be potentially used in the same person from which they were obtained or used for another person with a similar tissue type.

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