What are stem cells?
During the prenatal growth and development the child’s organism grows from unspecified cells called stem cells. Eventually, these cells differentiate into various tissues and organs such as the heart, skin, muscle, brain cells etc. Only some of these stem cells stay in the organism after the birth.
There are various types of stem cells in cord blood. Some of them are similar to the stem cells in an adult; others originate from the prenatal development period. Stem cells in cord blood do not occur in human blood in the same composition ever again. The best-known and most used are haematopoietic stem cells. Haematopoietic stem cells are cells especially able to differentiate into red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. In adults these cells can only be found in the bone marrow.
Other types of cells found in cord blood are mainly mesenchymal stem cells and embryonic – like stem cells that play an important role in the regeneration of damaged parts of human organism. They are able to differentiate into blood cells, muscle cells, bone cells, liver cells, cardiac muscle cells etc. Due to their unique attributes and perspective utilization in medicine, all stem cells types gained from cord blood have been subject to an intensive research. Cord blood stem cells are actually adult stem cells. They are not ethically controversial and their use for research and treatment is accepted by all major world religions as well as Vatican.