Stem cells from babies found in mothers' brains

From the article:

Stem cells from the fetus have now been found in many areas of the mother’s brain, heart and other organs. These stem cells are ‘pluripotent’ that is, they can potentially be induced to form many different cells lines such as brain or cardiac tissue and help in regeneration.

Another study illustrated their potential. The heart of pregnant animals were damaged by blockage of a coronary artery, simulating a severe heart attack, though this was not lethal. Later after the animals delivered, the heart was examined. Stem cells from their fetus had migrated to the damaged mother’s heart and helped it repair itself.

These cells from each and every one of your children are there, in your brain and heart…. for life. And they will all still be there when you die.

www.babydoc.com.au...

Another Link

This is just so thought- provoking!
It gives us some reason to at least consider seriously claims of an "extra sense" mothers have about their children, (like sensing when they are hurt, even when far away). Though it isn't directly explaining that, it gives us some food for thought on possible correlations to explore.

It also made me think about the way women often (not always, but common enough that has become a stereotype) feel a deep unexplainable urge to become a mother- that might be in our bodies for more reasons than we could guess in appearence.

I remember my mother always said he grandmother told her-
"The problem with women is that they think men will change.
The problem with men is that they think women won't."

LOL- I admit it does often seem to apply....
Perhaps having children influences changes in more ways than we thought?

Actually, it stimulated me to think about a lot of things. Just thought I'd put it out there.

a reply to: Bluesma

Thanks for the artikel Bluesma! Very thought-provoking indeed.

soulwaxer

Interesting article , but as a doctor , i have to read it to be sure what they are claiming and how they have carried out the research .

First of all , pluripotent cells have special antigens which are derived from both Mother and father . thus , mother's immune system will respond immediately to any foreign antigens like these very cells from baby .

secondly , there is a BBB (Blood-brain barrier) which limits the size of incoming substances to brain . let alone a gigantic cell like the stem cell .

I have my doubts about this research , but i'd love to read it .

a reply to: haman10

You are always level headed, I respect your opinion.

a reply to: TorinoFer

Thank you abundantly . same here my friend

originally posted by: haman10
Interesting article , but as a doctor , i have to read it to be sure what they are claiming and how they have carried out the research .

First of all , pluripotent cells have special antigens which are derived from both Mother and father . thus , mother's immune system will respond immediately to any foreign antigens like these very cells from baby .

Good point. It has been determined that

Microchimerism is more common in patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis than in their healthy siblings, suggesting chimeric cells may have a detrimental role in this disease, perhaps by setting off an autoimmune attack.

(from the second link in OP). Looked up studies and higher amounts of these cells were consistently found in women with autoimmune diseases which started later in life. (compared to healthy women)
On the other hand, less of them were found in women with Alzheimers.

secondly , there is a BBB (Blood-brain barrier) which limits the size of incoming substances to brain . let alone a gigantic cell like the stem cell .

So far what I can find is that some studies indicate the microchimerism does cross the blood-brain barrier.
To look further, search out the study findings of Chan and Nelson. Here, I found it-
journals.plos.org.../journal.pone.0045592


It would be great of you could help us less educated folks discern better what is fact here and what is exaggerated!

originally posted by: Bluesma
This is just so thought- provoking!
It gives us some reason to at least consider seriously claims of an "extra sense" mothers have about their children, (like sensing when they are hurt, even when far away). Though it isn't directly explaining that, it gives us some food for thought on possible correlations to explore.

I'm something of a purist when it comes to these things and I do believe this is pure evolutionary biology at work.
It makes sense, given that the creation of new life is at the core of our existence.
Creation, protection and development of new life is perhaps the most fundamental aspect of our biological being, so it seems logical to me that a healthy mothers body would have evolved to do absolutely everything possible to protect that new life.

There are always going to be exceptions to the rule, but it seems logical to me that nature would have found a way to maximize the chances of a healthy pregnancy.

I don't think there's any scientific basis in the notion that stem cells allow for some form of extrasensory perception, I think it's just interesting to see that nature has found ways to increase the chances of healthy reproduction in this way, and perhaps if we had seen that first it would have led us to the discovery of stem cells a lot sooner.

This actually makes me wonder what else we might not yet have discovered because we're not looking in the right places.

a reply to: haman10

i have to read it to be sure

Indeed. There's a link to the original paper on PubMed in the article that was posted. Here it is.

If you're a doctor, I'd be interested in reading your comments on the study after you have read it.

a reply to: Astyanax

Thanks! I see the link I put up to Chan and Nelsons study didn't work in my last post. I appreciate you correcting that.

a reply to: Astyanax

a reply to: Bluesma

Well my friends , i read the article and to be honest it appeared shocking to me .

let me tell you why by giving an example : there is this anti-body on the surface of erythrocytes named RH-antigen . if someone has that antigen , they're called RH+ . if they don't , they're RH- .

If a RH- mom gives birth to a RH+ infant , the mom is given a RhoGAM injection to avoid immune reaction to the new antigen

So as you see , child's antigen can cause (not always - for example if the antigen is the mitochondria of child's cells) a very harsh immune reaction in future pregnancies .

So the fact that the article is published has little to do with it's credibility . in fact if the article is credible , it's a very very interesting news .

The fathers DNA has :

1- successfully passed into mother's blood stream

2- successfully fooled the immune system of the mother (although immune system is more alert during pregnancy)

3- has successfully passed the BBB .

i would ask about the crediblity of this article from my attending and i'll get back to you guys as soon as i get more info .

we should contact the writers if possible and ask them how exactly they carried out the research . sensitivity of real time PCR is dependant on strategizing

EDIT : this all considering the fact the initial article talks about a Stem-cell , not the "tracks of male DNA" . these two differ as i said before - since we've got a well functioning BBB .
Thank you both abundantly .

Simply fascinating. Don't know enough to comment further but intend to read all the comments.

originally posted by: Bluesma

originally posted by: haman10
Interesting article , but as a doctor , i have to read it to be sure what they are claiming and how they have carried out the research .

First of all , pluripotent cells have special antigens which are derived from both Mother and father . thus , mother's immune system will respond immediately to any foreign antigens like these very cells from baby .

Good point. It has been determined that

Microchimerism is more common in patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis than in their healthy siblings, suggesting chimeric cells may have a detrimental role in this disease, perhaps by setting off an autoimmune attack.

(from the second link in OP). Looked up studies and higher amounts of these cells were consistently found in women with autoimmune diseases which started later in life. (compared to healthy women)
On the other hand, less of them were found in women with Alzheimers.

secondly , there is a BBB (Blood-brain barrier) which limits the size of incoming substances to brain . let alone a gigantic cell like the stem cell .

So far what I can find is that some studies indicate the microchimerism does cross the blood-brain barrier.
To look further, search out the study findings of Chan and Nelson. Here, I found it-
journals.plos.org.../journal.pone.0045592


It would be great of you could help us less educated folks discern better what is fact here and what is exaggerated!

Maybe, rather than the stem cells migrating, a DNA effector of a strand of DNA is released by the fetus into the blood of the mother. The stem cells could be the mother's aboriginal cells which have undergone a change from DNA or DNA affecting chemicals made by the fetus and circulated to the mother's brain.

All of the discussion about this topic is really interesting to read. I am a very fact based person. But I do believe that there are certain things that take place that no matter what, we do not know how or why.

Like why my severe colitis didn't flare up once during each of my three pregnancies, and has subsequently gotten better after each pregnancy.

I often wondered if it had something to do with pregnancy. But I have had severe issues with my digestive system since I have been a kid. I was actually terrified to have children because of it. I had pretty rough nausea with each pregnancy, but never had true morning sickness. Not a single vomit! I was very proud of that.

My friend who has Chrons, has said the same too. She got through all of her pregnancies, feeling better than she does normally.