TORONTO &emdash; A part of the umbilical cord once thought to have no value has been found to contain a rich source of stem cells, offering hope for improved success in bone-marrow transplants and tissue repair, Canadian researchers say.
The stem cells are found in the connective tissue surrounding blood vessels in the umbilical cord and can be removed and grown in a few weeks to provide an abundant number of cells, said John Davies, a professor of biomaterials at the University of Toronto and head of the team that reported its findings in the journal Stem Cells.
These stem cells, called mesenchymal progenitor cells, are those that go on to become bone, cartilage, muscle or other connective tissue.
It’s long been known that blood from the umbilical cord is a source of blood-forming stem cells, and an increasing number of parents are having them frozen and stored as insurance against future diseases in their child or other family members.
“This provides another source of cells which could be stored from the umbilical cord, which is otherwise just thrown away,” said Davies, whose team used cords only from full-term newborns, donated by parents specifically for research.
