Scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have discovered that babies can leave behind cells in a woman’s body that will help her survive her next pregnancy. The research was published in the journal Science.
The study authors confirmed that in mice, a small number of fetal cells leave the uterus and settle in various tissues of the maternal body. Biologists and doctors have known about this phenomenon for a long time. Moreover, it is known that maternal cells also enter the fetus.
In a new study, scientists found that this cell change was not an accident. As it turns out, these cells are needed so that the woman’s immune system (T cells) “recognizes” the fetus in the next pregnancy and does not attack it. Moreover, the study showed that after the second pregnancy, the cells of the new fetus completely replace the cells of the previous one.
The new study will help develop methods to prevent pregnancy complications.
Scientists still do not fully understand how a woman’s immune system “gets used” to the fetus during pregnancy, that is, does not reject it even though it is actually a foreign body. Many pregnancy complications, including preeclampsia (high blood pressure and kidney damage), premature birth, and stillbirth, are associated with fetal immune “intolerance.”
The authors noted that the findings are consistent with patterns observed in human pregnancy: Complications are more common in a first pregnancy, but if normal, the likelihood of complications in a second pregnancy would be even lower. In contrast, if a woman experiences complications such as preeclampsia, premature birth, or stillbirth, her risk of complications in subsequent pregnancies is above average.
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