Molecular and Genetic Medicine

Fetal Chimerism and Fetal Thymic Transplantation

Abstract

Bhattacharya N and Sengupta P

Fetal tissue transplantation is an attractive field of modern medicine that can have immense application in treating several refractile conditions. Fetal tissue transplantation is an allogeneic transplantation procedure and like any allogeneic transplantation they contribute towards the formation of a chimera at the cellular and tissue level grossly and can be classified as a macro chimerism. The fetus during the time of pregnancy also takes part in microchimerism through fetomaternal cell trafficking where there is an exchange of the maternal and the fetal cells through the blood-placental barrier. Apart from the creation of a stable chimerism, fetal tissues also play a role in healing. Fetal thymic transplantation is one of the most exciting applications of regenerative medicine which has also been discussed briefly with some case studies.