I have searched online multiple times to see whether a pregnant mother’s blood and her fetus’ blood are kept separate. I’ve even looked in textbooks, and often it’s implied but never said outright and plainly in those terms.
I’ve looked online, but I’ve not yet found a reputable source that spells it out clearly.
Are a pregnant mother’s blood and her fetus’ blood kept separate? Why or why not?
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So you know the way the lungs work? Tiny little blood vessels so close to the surface of the lung that blood cells can release carbon dioxide and take in oxygen without they themselves escaping? It’s porous enough to allow the small molecules of oxygen and carbon dioxide to pass through but not porous enough to allow blood cells to pass though.
Well with any pregnancy, the pregnancy will develop a temporary, detachable organ that effectively acts like a lung for the baby called the placenta. It acts like a lung with the mother’s blood being like the atmosphere you breathe in/out, passing oxygen and nutrients to the baby’s blood which flows back to the child via the umbilical cord.
Maternal blood is “filtered” through the placenta. This filtered blood then supplies the fetus with nutrients and oxygen.
Yes,but at certain instances like bleeding, misscarriage or labour the blood can mix.
If you are A- ,pregnant and eg bleeding you will need a rhoGam shot.
They don’t always stay completely separate. I mean yes, the blood circulatory system is kept separate enough for the mother and baby to maintain different blood supplies, often different blood types. Certain of the babies cells and DNA do enter the mother’s bloodstream and can remain there for years. Also, the blood can mix during procedures like amniocentesis or vaginal bleeding. There can also be “leaky spots” that can allow exchange. So technically they are two different blood systems, but there can definitely be very small amounts of mingling.
If you are looking for sources, search for Rh incompatibility during pregnancy. My kids are old enough that I don’t remember all the ins and outs, but I had to get a shot at 5 months in case the baby had Rh positive blood, so I wouldn’t form antibodies that would harm the fetus. I got another shot after the birth when they checked the baby’s blood type and it was Rh positive.
Yes. You know this as well because a mother an child can have different blood types. When you mix incomparable blood types the person involved doesn’t have a good time. Nutrients can transfer between mother and child but not blood itself.
Yes, they’re separate, which is why a baby can have a different blood type than it’s mother. The placenta allows nutrients and antibodies to pass, while keeping the larger blood cells discrete. Unfortunately, drugs and many infectious agents can also pass the placental barrier.
The blood as a whole never mixes, however some elements in the mother’s bloodstream can cross over it all depends how you are defining blood.
There is a placental blood barrier, yes.
> One of the placenta’s jobs is to make sure blood from the mother and fetus never mixes. The placenta acts as an exchange surface between the mother and the fetus. Nutrients and oxygen are passed over by diffusion only. If the mother’s and fetus’s blood mixed, it could be deadly for both of them. If the mother and the fetus had different blood types, they might both die if their blood mixed.
Wikipedia.
Any references to reputable resources would also be greatly appreciated.
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