During pregnancy, a small number of the baby's cells naturally pass through the placenta and enter the mother's blood circulation. This phenomenon, called fetal microchimerism, allows tiny groups of these fetal cells to settle in the mother's body and persist there for decades following childbirth.
What makes this particularly fascinating is that many of these fetal cells function similarly to stem cells. They can travel throughout the body, integrate into various tissues, and, in certain instances, respond to sites of injury.
Studies conducted over the last twenty years have detected fetal cells in areas undergoing repair, such as healing heart muscle, regenerating skin, recovering liver tissue, and other organs involved in regeneration. Some of these cells seem able to differentiate into the specific cell types required for repair, for example, becoming cardiac muscle cells, liver cells, or immune cells. Others may play a supportive role by secreting substances that promote tissue healing and dampen inflammation.
While their effects are not entirely predictable, fetal cells are repeatedly found in tissues actively engaged in repair.
[Kara et al. (2012): "Fetal Cells Traffic to Injured Maternal Myocardium and Undergo Cardiac Differentiation" (Circulation Research)]
[Wang et al. (2004): "Fetal cells in mother rats contribute to the remodeling of liver and kidney after injury" (Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications)]
I needed to hear this today 💖
A pastor asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace for the morning breakfast.
"Lord, I hate buttermilk", the farmer began. The visiting pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wonder where this was going.
The farmer loudly proclaimed, "Lord, I hate lard." Now the pastor was growing concerned.
Without missing a beat, the farmer continued, "And Lord, you know I don't much care for raw white flour". The pastor once again opened an eye to glance around the room and saw that he wasn't the only one to feel uncomfortable.
Then the farmer added, "But Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits. So Lord, when things come up that we don't like, when life gets hard, when we don't understand what you're saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing.
It will probably be even better than biscuits. Amen."
Within that prayer there is great wisdom for all when it comes to complicated situations like we are experiencing in the world today.
Stay strong, my friends, because our LORD is mixing several things that we don't really care for, but something even better is going to come when HE is done with it.
💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝