When a baby is born, the umbilical cord shrivels up and falls off. What happens to the rest of the internal tubage? Does it disintegrate and somehow absorbed by the body?
In: Biology
The internal tubage consists of the umbilical artery/vein which iirc bypass the liver. They do in fact shrivel up, and the umbilical vein becomes one of the ligaments associated with the liver (the ligamentum teres). In general fetal structures such as the umbilical vein and the ductus arteriosus (which bypasses the lungs since fetuses don’t breathe) become ligaments. In this case the umbilical vein becomes the ligamentum teres and the ductus arteriosus becomes the ligamentum arteriosum
Pretty sure the tube becomes the main ligament for your abs; which is why babies are incapable of sitting and crawling for a time because their abs are non-functional until the cord becomes that ligament
Things are a little backwards in the umbilical cord. There’s two veins taking oxygen filled blood to the baby’s heart, and an artery taking deoxygenated blood back to the mom for refueling. When these aren’t used anymore and the front falls off after birth, they fuse shut inside the body and essentially turn into tough, supportive tissue (ligaments).
One cool thing is that the tube that fetuses use to move waste from the bladder to the yolk sac for processing is also in the umbilical cord, and this fuses shut later too. If it remains open (patent) later in life you can get pee leaking out your belly button. Aren’t bodies fuckin strange?
Latest Answers