Wharton's jelly

Wharton's jelly (substantia gelatinea funiculi umbilicalis) is a gelatinous substance within the umbilical cord,^[1] largely made up of mucopolysaccharides (hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate). It acts as a mucous connective tissue containing some fibroblasts and macrophages, and is derived from extra-embryonic mesoderm of the connecting stalk.

As a mucous connective tissue, it is rich in proteoglycans, and protects and insulates umbilical blood vessels.^[2] Wharton's jelly, when exposed to temperature changes, collapses structures within the umbilical cord and thus provides a physiological clamping of the cord, typically three minutes after birth.

Cells in Wharton's jelly express several stem cell genes, including telomerase. They can be extracted, cultured, and induced to differentiate into mature cell types such as neurons.^[3] Wharton's jelly is therefore a potential source of adult stem cells, often collected from cord blood.^[3]

It is named for the English physician and anatomist Thomas Wharton (1614–1673) who first described it in his publication Adenographia, or "The Description of the Glands of the Entire Body", first published in 1656.^[4]

After obtaining the umbilical cord from the donor, it is transported to the laboratory in a cold and sterile environment using a transfer buffer that contains phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Subsequently, the vessels should be eliminated from the umbilical cord tissue on a sterile plate with the aid of autoclaved scissors. The sections of the umbilical cord tissue that are devoid of arteries should then be fragmented into smaller fragments. These tissue fragments are subsequently placed in a sterile cell culture plate or cell culture flask, and the cell culture medium (enriched with fetal bovine serum and antibiotics) is added. Lastly, the flask containing the tissue fragments is placed in a CO2 incubator for a duration of 1-2 weeks. This process ultimately leads to the proliferation and migration of stem cells from the Wharton's jelly into the plate or flask.^[5]

A 2024 editorial described a direct-to-consumer marketing email from a company in Arizona advertising a "3 for 1" sale on Exosomes or Whartons Jelly. The email stated that the products are "manufactured in an FDA-registered, cGMP compliant, ISO certified lab", but did not mention that such birth products can be used only in a registered clinical trial, according to a directive from the United States Food and Drug Administration on May 31, 2021.^[6]

Look up Wharton's jelly in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• synd/2298 at Who Named It?
• Cross-section microscopic slide views of umbilical cord ucsd.edu