Moms have fetal cells running around their bloodstream for decades after a baby is born! And they actively HELP prevent disease and heal a mom's body!

Previously thought to keep the baby cells on the baby's side of things, the placenta apparently leaks baby cells into the mom side. And these cells, even though they have different genetic material than the mom's, are NOT attacked by the immune system. Okay, this you might have already known.

But did you know that those cells can help make repairs to the mom's body for the rest of her life?

They're finding that in a teaspoon of blood, there are dozens, even hundreds, of fetal cells present in women, even up to their nineties. You're still with your mom! And get this: they're present even in the case of conception only, which means that those ladies who have had miscarriages or abortions still have 'em. (Which is a beautiful and comforting thought.)

They're also finding that in the presence of disease, these cells flock to the diseased tissue and multiply, becoming healthy tissue (exactly like stem cells). They sited on example of a women who was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of hepatitis. She had had five conceptions (one kid). When they biopsied her liver, they tested it for fetal cells and found there was an incredibly high number of them; "sheets of fetal cells" is what the scientist said. There were entire patches of healthy liver cells amongst the diseased, all teeming with this lady's babies' cells. The women ended up declining to be further treated, and when she returned (I can't remember how long later, but it was at least a year), she was completely hepatitis free.

There is another theory, that these fetal cells may be a contributing factor to auto-immune deficiency diseases like lupus and rhumatoid arthritis, but there have been no conclusive results in studies performed. But the theory that the baby cells help the mother's body is supported by numerous findings. Yay kids!

I love the idea that I might have helped my mom beat breast cancer.

Dollars to donuts that's the Story Of The Day tomorrow.

And get this: they're present even in the case of conception only, which means that those ladies who have had miscarriages or abortions still have 'em. (Which is a beautiful and comforting thought.)

Yes, it is. Thank you.

Females are all chimerical to some extent, regardless of whether they've been pregnant, 'cause one of the two X chromosomes randomly inactivates in each cell and turns into a Barr body.

hu. interesting.

Fun with mosaicism in cats.

We've got chimeras.

I don't fully understand the research Science Girl is doing, but I think it's the flip side of this story. If I recall correctly (and I just woke up, so that's a crapshoot at best), they're looking for the prescence of maternal cells in patients with autoimmune disease. In other words, while you may still be with your mom helping her, someone with lupus may still have their mom with them causing problems. I'll ask her (again) to explain it to me.

They talked about that in the NPR story, too, bmarkey, but they said the evidence wasn't really trending towards supporting that hypothesis so far.

That may change. She was pretty excited about something they found yesterday.

Actually, re-reading your comment, it might not be the same thing, after all. They talked about research into whether the left-over fetal cells might cause autoimmune disease in the mothers, not whether mother cells might cause autoimmune disease in their children.

IRFH wins the thread.

This is fascinating stuff! Next thing you know, rich fat old white men are going to be raiding the dumpsters behind abortion clinics to shoot up some of that fetusy goodness.

At last, being a fertility goddess pays off. Bwah ha! We impoverished single mothers pwn the rich old fat men.

Thanks for the cat link, killdevil. The article references, well, mentions a couple cats from my favourite "cat" book - Cats' Kingdom.

Specklet, this is lovely. It even made me a little weepy (in a good way!). I am going to visit my own sweet, beloved mom (who is in her seventies, and lives thousands of miles away from me) in a couple of weeks, and I am going to be sure to tell her about it. She’ll probably laugh and say something like “After all these years I thought I finally had all my kids' stuff cleared out of my house!” but I think she will be totally into it.

Yeah, made me (and my mom!) tear up a little. Speaking as someone who's had both an abortion and a miscarriage, it's so sweet to think they're still with me a little bit.

It was, in fact, today's NPR Story of the day, so you can listen to the whole deal on line now.