Curious

The baby’s cells remain in its mother’s brain

According to a recent study, the physical connection between mother and child is much deeper than previously thought. And it is built even during pregnancy, when the mother is all that the developing fetus needs.

The mother provides him with the right temperature and nutrients for existence. And her heart, with its constant heartbeat, has a soothing effect on the fetus.

The physical connection between the mother and the fetus is carried out through the placenta – an organ made up of the cells of the woman and her fetus, through which nutrients, gases and waste products from the baby’s vital functions are exchanged .

Cells can migrate across the placenta and continue their existence in many organs of the mother’s body, such as lungs, thyroid, muscles, liver, heart, kidneys and skin.

They can serve to renew a woman’s tissues, to prevent various abnormalities of the immune system and even scientists believe that they act prophylactically against cancer.

The researchers who conducted the study were surprised by their discovery that cells from one person can integrate into the tissues of another.

According to them, humans are used to thinking of ourselves ascompletely independent individuals, but the presence of these foreign cells seems to disprove that belief until recently.

Scientists also suggest that we are carriers of cells, chromosomes or cell organelles from other people. But the most remarkable discovery made in the new study is that cells from other individuals were found in the brain.

During the study, the scientists found that male cells, that is, with a Y chromosome, were identified in the brains of women and in some they even survived for several decades.

For now, it is only assumed that they could somehow influence the others.

However, male cells were identified more often in the brains of women who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, giving reason to suspect that they might be related to brain health. p>

Most of us may find it strange that we have cells from other people in our body, because we are used to believing that each of us is a unique being.

Even in this connection, perhaps, we should ask ourselves can we define our actions and decisions as independent, given that in our body – in this complex structure, cells live and function to other people.

But the mixing of cells from genetically different individuals is not at all unusual. This condition is called chimerism, and this name comes from the name of the fire-breathing Chimera of Greek mythology, a creature whose body was in one part of a serpent, of a goat, and of a lion.

Naturally occurring chimeras are far less ominous however, such as mold and coral.
Microchimerism is the constant presence of several genetically different cells in an organism.

This phenomenon was noticed in humans many years ago when cells containing a male Y chromosome were found in the blood of women after giving birth.

Since these cells are genetically male, they cannot be native to the female body and most likely originated from their sons.

In this new study, scientists found that microchimeric cells not only circulated in the women’s blood, but were also identified in their brains.

They examined the brains of deceased women for the presence of cells containing the Y chromosome. The researchers found such cells in more than 60% of the brain tissue and in almost all areas of the brain.

Because Alzheimer’s is more common in women who have had multiple pregnancies, scientists suspect that they will have a higher number of fetal cells compared to those who which there was no evidence that they suffered from a neurological disease.

But the results of the study refuted these assumptions – women suffering from Alzheimer’s and it turned out to be the exact opposite – representatives of the fairer sex with this disease had fewer fetal cells in the brain

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