Knowing that cord blood celsl include stem cells that can be used therapeutically, what was the purpose of these cells in the first place? Is it to protect the baby during pregnancy/birth? Couldn't find any info on this but I find the question is staying with me.
In principle umbilical cord is connected to the fetuses circulation so anything that is in cord blood should also be in the circulation of the baby. There are reports that the number of circulating HSCs is high right after birth, the number decreases rapidly thereafter but it is not known why. So the simplest explanation is that there are just more circulating cells in the fetus and therefore they can be also found in umbilical cord. During early development placenta has been shown to be one of the sites of HSC emergence, so it is also possible that placenta/umbilical cord have some properties that attract HSCs, however to my knowledge that late in development placenta should not be major reservoir of HSCs.
Agree with Tonis, it’s likely simply a reflection of the fetal circulation at the time of birth. Even in adults HSC recirculate, albeit at much, much lower frequency. Also possible that the vessel walls in cord blood have high VCAM expression, and the surrounding tissue is supposedly rich in mesenchymal cells, which are excellent producers of CXCL12. So possible that there are marginated HSC in cord blood because the vessel walls are a bit “stickier” for the recirculating HSC.
Presumably, you are speaking about hematopoietic [blood forming] stem cells - aka HSC. Ben is correct that the placenta produces CXCL12, which is also called SDF-1 and HSC have CxCR4, the receptor for SDF-1. The fetal circulation is also somewhat hypoxic relative to the maternal circulation, and hypoxia is known to mobilize HSC from marrow. Additionally, during development, HSC are first found in the AGM region, which then populate the fetal liver, before populating the fetal bone marrow niche, so HSC are migrating a lot in development.
Contrary to Tonis's statement, there are large numbers of HSC as well as MSC in the placenta. This has been reported by a hematologist from Upsalla I forget her last name. Her first name is Hannah.
I hope that following information will be helpful:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276361356_Advances_in_Umbilical_Cord_Blood_Stem_Cell_Expansion_and_Clinical_Translation?ev=srch_pub&_sg=Mc-kUsPC6lKhLreubn5tP0EXSA1UlZ0lbbFbPeeorLOO2JvXK2xhSywzQiZMEAIT.VWd7FlOq902Mz0rkwWAvt83NTOP9-QR2lYh1s3o0dY6EQkD2mA3_m4249XF_8zUH.W2KEozC0_d3wO_KemcPl6fEF0Y8Qnm3uJcrHSvbGaHcitFzvqBatujFSnawAVI6t
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24101670
Article Advances in Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cell Expansion and Cli...
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