Amazing!
You have your mother’s cells in your brain right now. If she ever carried you, yours are in hers. Scientists looked at the brains of 59 women after they died, ages 32 to 101. In 63% of them, they found their sons’ DNA scattered across different brain regions. The cells had traveled from the womb, through the blood, past the wall that normally keeps foreign material out of the brain, and settled in. The oldest woman still carrying her son’s cells in her brain was 94. In mice, those cells became functional brain cells. The transfer starts as early as 7 weeks into pregnancy. Your cells slip through the placenta into your mother’s body. Hers slips into yours. One study found a mother still had her son’s cells in her blood 27 years after giving birth. After delivery, between 50 and 75% of women carry their child’s cells. During pregnancy, up to 6% of a woman’s blood DNA comes from the baby.
