After I became a mother, I noticed a boost in my immunity. Before that, I always had issues with tonsilitis and had to go through an antibiotics course. Curiosity was born and I wanted to find out what just happened to my body after the birth of a baby.
After conception, a mother starts feeling the baby inside her growing and nurturing every moment, but you don’t realize that the baby is also talking back. Their silent conversation started from the very beginning in the first trimester with the exchange of genetic material and cells not only from mother to baby but also from baby to mother.
During pregnancy, fetus cells travel through the placenta to the mother’s body where they become part of her tissues. This led to the point that mothers carry unique genetic material transfer to them from their children, scientists named it ‘Microchimera’ or ‘Accidental Souvenir of pregnancy’. These are mostly DNA from the fetus, tiny pieces of the placenta, and potent fetal cells. This phenomenon was first observed in 1979 when researchers at Stanford University found cells with Y chromosomes in a pregnant woman’s blood, they assumed that these cells came from her son since women carry only X chromosomes.
It turns out that all women having a baby carry almost 6% of free-floating DNA in their blood plasma obtained from the fetus. Many of these cells are cleared out by the Mother’s immune system from her body while those that manage to infiltrate her tissues could hide out for years even decades. Studies led by Diana Bianchi in 1996 at Tufts Medical Center showed that these cells remain in the mother’s body for almost 27 years even after giving birth.
Researchers and scientists have proven several theories on how these cells have contributed to wound healing in mothers as well as leading to a higher risk of cancer and autoimmune disorders. Scientists have found these cells in scar tissues, especially scars left by C-sections. These cells contribute to making collagen. In short, the fetus is helping the mom to recover from the scar left by C-section thus contributing to faster healing.
On the other hand, If these cells integrate into breast tissues they will promote more breast milk production through chemical signals, which is good for the baby but not for the mother as mothers dissolve their bodies to produce it. If these fetal cells start diving too quickly, they might increase the risk of breast cancer for mothers as well.
Scientists investigating fetal microchimerism first explore its role in autoimmune disorders. These cells were found in the skin of women suffering from scleroderma which is an autoimmune disorder. Later it was observed that these cells protect mothers from such disorders and these effects are caused by mothers’ immune response to their child’s cells.
It is unclear for how long microchimera can benefit or harm a mother’s body as a protective effect against rheumatoid arthritis decreased over time, with no benefit seen 15 years after a woman last gave birth, according to a study ‘Arthritis & Rheumatism’ published online on March 2010.
Since your mom has living cells from all other pregnancies and her mom too we can say you have cells of your siblings and your grandmother or even maybe great-great grandmother. Unfortunately, scientists haven’t seen ‘grandma cells’ in anybody otherwise you would be walking around with a whole family tree inside of you.
The point is that we can expect fetal cells to both help and harm the mother’s body given the circumstances. Given the complexity, these microchimeras are difficult to study until recently many studies have been published on them.
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