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ShareIn placental mammals, the umbilical cord is a tube that connects a developing embryo or fetus to its placenta.
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It contains one or two major vessels, buried within Wharton's jelly, for the exchange of nutrient- and oxygen-rich blood between the embryo and placenta.The umbilical cord develops from, and contains, remnants of the yolk sac and allantois.
In humans, the umbilical cord in a full term fetus is usually about 50 cm long and about 2 cm in diameter. In the third stage of labour, the uterus expels the placenta along with the cord from the mother's body.
After the cord is separated from the placenta, the umbilical stub on the newborn's belly dries and comes off after a few days.
It leaves only a small scar (the umbilicus) behind.
In humans, the cord is clamped or cut after birth.
For more information about the topic Umbilical cord, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Placenta — The placenta is an ephemeral (temporary) organ present only in female placental vertebrates during gestation (pregnancy). All mammals other than ... > read more
Fetus — A fetus (also foetus) is a developing mammal after the embryonic stage and before birth. The plural is fetuses or foetuses. In humans, a fetus ... > read more
Mammalian embryogenesis — Mammalian embryogenesis is the process of cell division and cellular differentiation which leads to the development of a mammalian embryo. A mammal ... > read more
How internal organs form — In animal development, organogenesis is the process by which the ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm develop into the internal organs of the organism. ... > read more
Embryo — In organisms that reproduce sexually, once a sperm fertilizes an egg cell, the result is a cell called the zygote that has all the DNA of two ... > read more
Infant — The word infant is commonly used as a slightly more formal word for baby (the youngest category of child). The term infant is also used as ... > read more
Breech birth — A breech birth (also known as breech presentation) refers to the position of the baby in the uterus such that it will be delivered buttocks first as ... > read more
Spinal cord — The spinal cord is a part of the vertebrate nervous system that is enclosed in and protected by the vertebral column (it passes through the spinal ... > read more
Childbirth — Childbirth (also called labour, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy with the emergence of a newborn infant from its ... > read moreEditor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
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