Pregnancy can leave a mother carrying something unexpected for decades after birth, living cells from her child that may help damaged tissue repair itself.
The phenomenon is called fetomaternal microchimerism.
During pregnancy, fetal cells cross the placenta, enter maternal circulation, and can settle in organs including the heart, liver, skin, and bone marrow.
In a landmark 2011 mouse study, fetal cells preferentially gathered in injured maternal hearts and developed characteristics of heart muscle, blood-vessel, and smooth-muscle cells.
Later research found removing fetal microchimeric cells worsened cardiac recovery after experimentally induced heart attacks in mice.
Human studies have detected fetal-derived cells decades later, including 27 years after pregnancy.
A pregnancy, remarkably, can leave a cellular legacy long after delivery
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