How long can stem cells be stored?

Who knew that the umbilical cord blood which was once shrugged off as trash could hold life-saving stem cells?

Stem cells follow the same analogy in multicellular organisms as seeds do in plants. They are undifferentiated biological cells that form the building blocks for different types of cells and have the ability to produce more of the same type of cells.

The ability of these cells to treat around 70 blood-related and genetic disorders has earned it a coveted reputation lately in the biological world. Scientists have devised methods for stem cell preservation to last a lifetime. Scientific evidence otherwise suggests that they can be stored for up to 24 years .



Why preserve stem cells?

Young cells with regeneration ability : The stem cells from the umbilical cord are juvenile and raw in their exposure to the outside environment, hence the process of baby stem cell preservation is very important. They can differentiate and regenerate into different types of cells in the body and come in aid during severe disorders.

Treats blood disorders : Cord blood cells hold the power to treat several fatal diseases like Sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia which almost 15,000 infants in our country are born with.

Life saver for the entire family : Although there are 13 million volunteer donors registered globally, the chance to find one for Asians drops to 1 out of 10, especially amongst Indians since they have a more diverse HLA type.

Future of emerging research :  Currently researchers are studying effect of stem cells on spinal cord, heart and brain injury. These magical cells have made it possible to question the unfathomable in medical field.

One for the family : Cord blood stem cells are genetically unique. In cases where a family has a history marked with diseases like Alzheimer’s disease , asthma, heart disease and stroke, there is a higher chance of them seeping into their children through inheritance . These diseases can be cured with cord blood. 

Stem cell preservation steps :


Step 1: First of all, the cord lining is collected by cutting off a segment of the umbilical cord of a newborn child . This enables cord blood to be collected. The clamped segment of the cord is kept in a sterile container that comes inside the umbilical cord collection kit.


Step 2: The umbilical cord collected is sent to Cordlife’s laboratory where the technologist verifies the identity of the right client and performs further steps to decontaminate the cord in a bio hazard safety cabinet. Then, the cord undergoes processing and cryopreservation.

Step 3: Then the umbilical cord is further processed to separate all other components through centrifugation to leave only the cord lining. The cord lining thus obtained is cleaned with wash buffer solution and segmented into small pieces.

Step 4: The decontaminated segmented cord linings are then transferred into tiny tubes or cryovials loaded with cryoprotectant to maintain their viability during cryopreservation.

Step 5: The cord lining segments are frozen gradually in the controlled-prate freezer, where the temperature is lowered by 1-2°C per minute.

Step 6: After this, the cryovials are shifted into a MVE anti-contamination vapour phase liquid nitrogen storage system where the temperature is maintained at -190°C for a long-term cryopreservation. 




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