What Is Cord Blood?
Umbilical cord blood is human blood obtained from the placenta and umbilical cord shortly after birth.
The placenta, umbilical cord, and the blood that these organs contain are typically discarded after the birth of a baby. However, once it was discovered that umbilical cord blood contains blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cells, the practice of private and public cord blood banking was quickly established.
What Are Stem Cells?
Stem cells are primitive, undeveloped cells that have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types.
When a stem cell divides, each new cell can either remain a stem cell or specialize into another type of cell. Stem cells can theoretically divide without limit to replenish other damaged cells, and in doing so, can potentially act as a repair system for the body.
How Is Cord Blood Collected?
After a baby is delivered, the mother's body releases the placenta, the temporary organ that transferred oxygen and nutrients from the mother’s body to the developing fetus.
There are two methods of cord blood collection from the vein in the umbilical cord. Blood can be extracted before the placenta is delivered (in utero) or after (ex utero).
The ex utero method is cord blood collection after delivery of the placenta and clamping off of the umbilical cord. The placenta is placed in a sterile supporting structure with the umbilical cord hanging out, and typically 40 – 150 ml of cord blood is collected through the umbilical cord via gravity drainage.
The in utero method of collection is similar to in utero, except that the cord blood is collected after delivery of the baby but before the delivery of the placenta.
Placental Stem Cells
Additional stem cells can also be collected from the placenta. After the cord blood from is extracted from the umbilical cord, both the cord blood and the placenta are transported to the stem cell laboratory, and the placenta is specially processed to derive additional stem cells.
Extraction of stem cells from the placenta and the umbilical cord blood, can result in the banking of up to twice the number of stem cells. This is important since the size of the stem cell sample is a significant factor in achieving a successful transplant if the cells are later needed.
Want to Bank Your Baby’s Cord Blood?
If you want to privately bank your baby’s cord blood, you must obtain a collection kit from the cord blood bank that you chose to utilize. The kit typically contains all the items that your obstetrics team needs to collect cord blood. If you are interested in donating your baby’s cord blood, see the website of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) for additional details.
More Information
For more information on stem cells, see the Stem Cell Information page of the National Institutes of Health or other Suite101 articles, including Umbilical Cord Blood Banking, Umbilical Cord Blood Storage and Types of Human Stem Cells.
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