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What Are Wharton’s Jelly Tissue Allografts?

Application Uses

Wharton’s Jelly Tissue Allografts

Applications to soft tissue injuries provide cushioning and support surrounding tissues.

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About Wharton’s Jelly

This connective tissue contains high amounts of extracellular matrix components including collagen types I, III, and V, elastin, and fibronectin [1, 2]. Wharton’s jelly mainly provides cushioning and structural support to the umbilical cord but also contains a natural source of long-chain hyaluronic acid and numerous cytokines and growth factors.

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Studies have described placental tissues to be “immune privileged” as they rarely evoke an immune response in the body, reducing the risk of adverse reactions [3].

Applied to Tissue Defects

When Wharton’s jelly is applied to defects in the articular cartilage scaffold, several case studies have reported the alleviation of symptoms associated with structural defects.

They are non-invasive, non-surgical, and typically used for muscle, ligament, and cartilage tears.

Advantages of Wharton’s Jelly

The primary function of Wharton’s jelly is to protect and cushion the umbilical vein and arteries from mechanical stress, thus making it a prime substance to replace damaged tissues that cushion and protect, such as articular cartilage and dermis.

STRUCTURAL SUPPORT

Wharton’s jelly provides a natural scaffold to facilitate cellular adhesion [1, 2].

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How do Wharton’s Jelly Allografts work?

Umbilical cord tissue has many components which are beneficial for transplantation. Chief among these are the ECM, a collagen-based, cross-linked network that provides tensile strength and distributes load.

When Wharton’s jelly allografts are applied to soft tissue injuries, the ECM is left intact, providing the same function as in the umbilical cord of cushioning and supporting surrounding tissues. In addition, the ECM remains in the affected area long after application, providing a scaffold for the body’s natural healing process to build upon.

Scaffolding Support

Wharton’s jelly is particularly beneficial to patients with musculoskeletal injuries.

What do Wharton’s jelly Allografts help with?

While Wharton’s jelly does not treat any specific diseases or conditions, it is appropriate for any case where a soft tissue defect is identified. However, if your patients suffer from osteoarthritis or other degenerative tissue conditions, they may have a higher likelihood of having or developing soft tissue defects. Through imaging, you can identify these defects and address them with WJ connective tissue supplementation.

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CITATIONS:

1. Kim DW, Staples M, Shinozuka K, Pantcheva P, Kang SD, Borlongan CV. Wharton’s jelly derived mesenchymal stem cells: phenotypic characterization and optimizing their therapeutic potential for clinical applications. Int J Mol Sci. 2013 May 31;14(6):11692-712. doi: 10.3390/ijms140611692. PMID: 23727936; PMCID: PMC3709752.

2. Gupta A, El-Amin SF 3rd, Levy HJ, Sze-Tu R, Ibim SE, Maffulli N. Umbilical cord derived Wharton’s jelly for regenerative medicine applications. J Orthop Surg Res. 2020 Feb 13;15(1):49. doi: 10.1186/s13018-020-1553-7. PMID: 32054483; PMCID: PMC7017504.

3. Jadalannagari S, Converse G, McFall C, Buse E, Filla M, Villar MT, Artigues A, MellotAJ, Wang J, Detamore MS, Hopkins RA, Aljitawi OS. Decellularized Wharton’s Jelly from human umbilical cord as a novel 3D scaffolding material for tissue engineering applications. PLoS One. 2017 Feb 21;12(2):e0172098. doi: 10.1371/journal. pone.0172098. Erratum in: PLoS One. 2017 Mar 7;12 (3):e0173827. PMID: 28222169; PMCID: PMC5319682.