One of my friends gave me an article that blew my mind, and I am going to do my best to explain it to you this week. I should warn you in advance that although the subject matter feels mythological in content, I am not selling you improbable research.
Chimeras, hybrid animals from Greek mythology, are fiery dragons with the heads of goats and lions, tails of serpents, or any number of other animals fused into one. They are portentous of disastrous events, and synonymous for anything "wildly imaginative, implausible, or dazzling" (wikipedia). When my friend gave me an article that human women were recently discovered to have a condition called Microchimerism, you can understand my brief reticence in believing it.
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| CNP, 2014 |
Pregnant women do not harbor a little tiny fire breathing lioness in their abdomen, but they do exchange cells with their fetus, and these cells persist in the mother for years to come. Let me say that again: women exchange cells with their fetus, and the cells of the child stay in the mother sometimes for the rest of her life. During pregnancy, up to six percent of the 'free floating DNA' in a woman's blood plasma is from the fetus. The fact these cells reproduce and live within the mother for the rest of her life is what blew my mind. The cells don't stay put in the uterus either. They may migrate through the body--and since the non-mother cells from the child are often stem cells, they show up frequently at sites of injury and tissue repair and morph into whatever form is needed at that location. I told you that this tale would feel mythological.
The article I first read examined primarily Y chromosomal DNA (as it is easily differentiated as being NOT female, and therefore chimeral) and shows a significant increase in the longevity of women who have Y chromosomal microchimerism. In fact, Danish women who exhibited another beings' DNA had "substantially improved survival" due to decreased rates of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Another study found that women with Alzheimer's disease had fewer chimera cells than women with healthy brain tissue.
In ancient Greece, chimeras heralded disastrous events like storms, shipwrecks, and volcanic eruptions. Microchimerism in women is not always advantageous, as some autoimmune diseases like scleroderma are linked to higher levels of "non-self" cells. In other realms though, it is looking like is is really beneficial to have a dazzling array of non-self DNA running through your body.
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| CNP, 2014 |
The little bambino this week is the size of a turnip, and it is busily beginning to lay aside some fat stores. When it is born, those fat supplies will take up 2/3 of its weight! Bulk up, buttercup! He has sweat glands, and eyelashes, and finally... ...the ears have finished migrating and are in their exact proper place.
Until next week,
Cat
p.s. Thanks to the lovely Tracy for feeding me this delicious article and making my brain (with a few fetal cells thrown in for good measure) sing.
Xoxoxoxo
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