What Is Cord Tissue Banking?

Cord Tissue Stem Cells

• What is cord tissue?

  Cord tissue is your baby’s umbilical cord, which contains mesenchymal stem cells. These stem cells can form connective tissues such as bone, cartilage, and tendon, and have unique properties that make them promising for cellular therapies. Studies are evaluating cord tissue stem cells as possible treatments for many injuries and diseases.

• What is the difference between cord tissue and cord blood stem cells?

  Cord tissue is a rich source of mesenchymal stem cells, which create connective tissue. Cord blood is a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells, which create the blood and immune system. Because of the different functions of these stem cells, cord blood and cord tissue may help repair the body in different ways. Cord tissue research is still in its early stages, and safe and effective therapies may never be developed.

• How are cord tissue stem cells being researched for use in medical treatments?

  Stem cells from cord tissue have demonstrated the power to heal spinal cord, brain, and cartilage injuries in laboratory studies. This research is now beginning to move into clinical trials. It is at an early stage and medical treatments may never be developed.

• How does CBR store cord tissue?

  We’re thinking about the long game when we store your baby’s umbilical cord tissue. For starters, we preserve the cord as whole segments to help safeguard all the cell types, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

  Why is this important? Research is still in early stages for cord tissue, and we want your family to have access to all the cells in the cord, and to the best available future technologies, as research advances. By preserving cord tissue whole, we can help ensure you have the most options science has to offer in the future.

  Learn more about cord tissue and how it could be used in the future >
• How do I know I have a quality cord tissue sample?

  We’ve developed an innovative process called ActivCord™ to test the metabolic activity of the cells in the cord tissue. Cord tissue samples stored after April 1, 2019, will receive this test. As part of our official Quality Standard, we will let families know if their sample meets our quality threshold.

• What is ActivCord™?

  ActivCord™ is our innovative process for measuring the metabolic activity of your baby’s cord tissue, which will indicate whether or not the sample meets our threshold for health and viability when it arrives at our lab.

  The active ingredient of the ActivCord test is a blue compound. When metabolically-active cells interact with the compound, a chemical reaction converts the blue to pink. Since only viable cells convert the compound, the amount of shift from blue to pink indicates the cells’ viability, and thus the overall health of the tissue.

• Does freezing cord tissue whole impact the ability to get MSCs out of it?

  No. We have confirmed that MSCs can be consistently and reliably isolated from segmented umbilical cord tissue that has been prepared and cryopreserved using our validated process.¹²⁵

• What do I do if I want to use the cord tissue?

  There are no uses of cord tissue stem cells at this time. But in the future, when relevant clinical applications are developed, we'll be here to support our clients every step of the way.