The correlation between umbilical cord of pregnant women with familial mediterranean fever and wharton jöle mesenchimal stem cells

Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF), occurs with repetitive fever and inflamation of serous membrance, and this is the most common disorder of genetic periodic fever syndromes. FMF is otosomal recessive (OR) transmitted. It is frequently seen among countries around the Mediterranean Sea. The complication, which is the most important and affect the prognoses the most, is amyloidosis. Amyloidosis can contaminate in various organs such as heart, intestine, testis and especially in kidneys. During pregnancy, the progress of FMF is changeable. While remission can be observed at some pregnant patients, frequent FMF attack and raise in its severity can be seen at some other patients. Furthermore, peritonitis attacks during pregnancy may cause early uterus contraction and abortus. The consumption of colchicine used at FMF treatment can be discussed due to anti-mitotik feature of colchicine. Pregnancy can be negatively affected by FMF, colchicine and amyloidosis. Mesenchymal stem cells have essential potential for tissue regeneration. The umbilical cord connective tissue (Wharton's jelly), which is rich for mesenchymal stem cells, can be obtained easily. In our study, umbilical cords obtained after the birth of 7 pregnant patients diagnosed with FMF and 7 pregnant patients (control group) with no patience are used. These tissues are assessed under light microscopic after the application of Hematoksilen-Eozin (H-E), Masson's Trikrom (TRI), Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) ve Kongo Red paints. The stem cells of Wharton's Jelly are isolated with enzymatic digestion method. Afterwards, the number of CD73, CD90, CD105 identifiers with (+) marks and the number of CD45, CD34 identifiers with (-) marks at mesenchymal stem cells are detected by a current cytometry device. By using the same identifiers, mesenchymal stem cells are visually evaluated by immunostaining. At the end of our study, it is found that the diameter and vein wall thickness of umbilical cords from the group diagnosed with FMF are decreased while the vein lumen diameters of the same group are increased in comparison with the control group. The evidence of vasculitis and amyloidosis are not observed at umbilical cords of the group diagnosed with FMF. When the number and percentage of mesenchymal stem cells at Wharton's jelly are concerned, a significant decrease is detected in the group diagnosed with FMF. Keywords: FMF, pregnancy, umbilical cord, Wharton's jelly, mesenchymal stem cells.