Resarchers have discovered that the link between mother and child may be even deeper than initially thought, after finding that a child's fetal cells remain inside their mother up to decades after her pregnancy.
While pregnant, the placenta, an organ built of cells from both the mother and fetus, serves as a way for the two to exchange nutrients, gasses and wastes, reported BabyDoc. It's possible for cells to migrate from the fetus into the mother, and taking up residence in areas such as the mother's brain, heart, lungs and other organs.
While a seemingly weird notion, the presence of genetically distinct cells residing in another organisms body is quite common. For example, such instances can be seen with slime mold and corals.
The scientific term for this phenomenon is microchimerism, which was first discovered in humans when cells containing male "Y" chromosomes were found circulating in the blood of women after pregnancy, reported Scientific American. Scientists reasoned that since the cells were genetically male and women generally have no "Y" chromosomes, the cells had to have come from their children during gestation.
Scientists came upon this discovery by examining the brains of deceased women, and searching for the presence of cells containing the male "Y" chromosome. They found pertinent cells in more than 60 percent of the brains and in multiple brain regions.
What scientists find most interesting about this discovery, though, are the ramifications it has on the mother's health, according to USA Today.
Fetal cells can change to whatever type of cell is needed, so if, for example, a mother had liver damage, the cells would migrate to the liver in an attempt to repair the damage.
However, Louise McCullough, Director of Stroke Research at the University of Connecticut Health Center, notes the opposite may happen as well. She notes that these microchimeric cells may cause other diseases, most notably autoimmune diseases. Doctors don't know what causes related diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and various thyroid conditions, but they do know they're several times more common in women and they usually develop during women's childbearing years.
This assertion lies in stark contrast to the aforementioned study where scientists believed that since Alzheimer's disease is more common in women who've had multiple pregnancies, that they would find more fetal cells in women with AD when compared to those who displayed no evidence of neurological disease. However, scientists found the opposite to be the case: there were fewer fetal-derived cells in women with Alzheimer's.
Scientists hope that this discovery may help doctors in developing better treatments for various diseases in the future.
