Wharton's jelly
gelatinous substance within the umbilical cord
Wharton's jelly (Latin: substantia gelatinea funiculi umbilicalis) is a gelatinous substance within the umbilical cord, largely made up of mucopolysaccharides (hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate). It acts as a mucous connective tissue containing some fibroblasts and macrophages, and is derived from extra-embryonic mesoderm of the connecting stalk.
Umbilical cord occlusion
As a mucous connective tissue, it is rich in proteoglycans, and protects and insulates umbilical blood vessels. Wharton's jelly, when exposed to temperature changes, collapses structures within the umbilical cord and thus provides a physiological clamping of the cord, typically three minutes after birth.
Stem cells
Cells in Wharton's jelly express several stem cell genes, including telomerase. They can be extracted, cultured, and induced to differentiate into mature cell types such as chondrocytes and adipocytes. Wharton's jelly is therefore a potential source of adult stem cells, often collected from cord blood.
Etymology
It is named for the English physician and anatomist Thomas Wharton (1614–1673) who first described it in his publication Adenographia, or "The Description of the Glands of the Entire Body", first published in 1656.
Isolation of stem cells protocol
After obtaining the umbilical cord from the donor, it is transported to the laboratory in a cold and sterile environment using a transfer buffer that contains phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Subsequently, the vessels should be eliminated from the umbilical cord tissue on a sterile plate with the aid of autoclaved scissors.
“Wharton's jelly” enters the record as gelatinous substance within the umbilical cord. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Wharton's, jelly and gelatinous can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q913900. The first chronological checks are 1614, 1673 and 1656.
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This entry incorporates text from “Wharton's jelly” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.