Can a woman’s period save her life years later?

[flashl]

Questioning the Allure of Putting Cells in the Bank

A company called Cryo-Cell International says that it can — that menstrual fluid contains stem cells that might one day be used for medical treatments.

The company has not published research verifying the claim. But using the slogan “Your monthly miracle,” it has begun offering, for a fee, to collect and store cells from the fluid for a woman’s future use.

Cryo-Cell, in Oldsmar, Fla., is one of several companies trying to make a business out of banking stem cells. Although businesses that store umbilical cord blood have operated for years, the new services have a potentially broader appeal, to people who are not having babies at the moment.

There are companies that offer to extract and store stem cells from adult blood, from fat removed by liposuction, from children’s baby teeth after they fall out and from leftover embryos at fertility clinics.

But some experts say consumers should think twice before spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on such services, because it is not clear how useful such cells will be.

NY Times

OK, now let's hear from the experts, ladies?

[Sanity Claws]

1. Why not regular blood?

I don't understand why menstrual blood would have properties that regular blood would not.
I say it's a gimmick.

[RC]

2. There is also the shed lining of the uterus.

That is where the stem cells would come from.

[notadmblnd]

3. not technically correct. The endometrium functions as a lining for the uterus

preventing adhesions between the opposed walls of the myometrium, thereby maintaining the patency of the uterine cavity. During the menstrual cycle or estrous cycle, the endometrium grows to a thick, blood vessel-rich, glandular tissue layer. This represents an optimal environment for the implantation of a blastocyst upon its arrival in the uterus.

During pregnancy, the glands and blood vessels in the endometrium further increase in size and number. Vascular spaces fuse and become interconnected, forming the placenta, which supplies oxygen and nutrition to the embryo and fetus.
The endometrial lining undergoes cyclic regeneration. Humans and the great apes display the menstrual cycle, whereas most other mammals are subject to an estrous cycle. In both cases, the endometrium initially proliferates under the influence of estrogen. However, once ovulation occurs, in addition to estrogen, the ovary will also start to produce progesterone. This changes the proliferative pattern of the endometrium to a secretory lining. Eventually, the secretory lining provides a hospitable environment for one or more blastocysts.

If no blastocyst is detected, the progesterone level drops and the endometrial lining is either reabsorbed (estrous cycle) or shed (menstrual cycle). In the latter case, the process of shedding involves the breaking down of the lining, the tearing of small connective blood vessels, and the loss of the tissue and blood that had constituted it through the vagina. The entire process occurs over a period of several days. Menstruation may be accompanied by a series of uterine contractions; These help expel the menstrual endometrium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometrium

[OnionPatch]

4. Darn, just when I hit menopause!

;)