Emergent roles of maternal microchimerism in postnatal development.

Maternal microchimerism (MMc) is a phenomenon in which a low level of cells from the mother persists within her progeny. Albeit their regular presence in mammalian pregnancies, the overall cell type repertoire and roles of maternal cells, especially after birth, remain unclear. By using transgenic mouse strains and human umbilical blood samples, recent studies have, for the first time, characterized and quantified MMc cell type repertoires in offspring, as well as identified the cross-generational influence on fetal immunity and determined possible factors that affect their presence in offspring. This review summarizes new findings, especially over the maternal cell type repertoires and their potential role in utero, postnatal life, and long after birth. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.