The Special Protective System Prepared For the Embryo

The cells which attach to the mother's uterus continue to develop and be nourished in this secure place. But this is an amazing thing, because the quickly growing embryo is normally confronted by a serious danger-the mother's immune system.

The immune system regards every kind of foreign material entering the body as an enemy and attacks it. The embryo's genetic make-up is different from that of the mother and, for her body, it is a foreign organism. The moment the mother's defensive cells become aware of the presence of this foreign organism, they rush towards the uterus. If no special precautions were taken, the defensive cells would surely kill the embryo.

But there is no such occurrence under healthy conditions, because the embryo is taken from the beginning under special protection.

Before the embryo attaches itself to the wall of the uterus, trophoblast cells begin to form around the surface of the embryo, forming a kind of filter between the mother's blood vessels and the embryo. The mother's immune cells are unable to detect the trophoblastic tissues because they lack some proteins that most other cells carry and which help the immune cells to detect them. Thanks to this characteristic of trophoblast cells, the embryo is protected from assault by the maternal immune system. Moreover, some of the trophoblast cells assist in causing oxygen, nutrients and other necessary substances to reach the embryo.30

Now, let's examine in detail the special structure of these cells.

The Engineering Ability of the Trophoblast Cells

As we explained in the previous pages, despite the fact that the trophoblast cells have multiplied from the same egg cell, they separate from the cells which form the embryo; they are a group of cells that perform all the supportive activities relative to the embryo's development in the mother's womb. On the seventh day, these cells send out projections in every direction and begin to grow. The purpose of this change is to penetrate into the wall of the uterus. During this passage, they meet the mother's blood vessels and penetrate their outer surface. So, within 7-8 days, the embryonic tissue becomes connected to the mother's blood.

Some trophoblast cells produce enzymes to destroy the membrane of the blood vessels in the wall of the uterus. In this way, the pressure exerted by the mother's blood on the embryo is lessened. The trophoblast cells go into action as if they were aware of an immanent danger and take measures to prevent anything that would result in the death of the embryo. If these cells did not make such an adjustment in the mother's blood vessels, the mother's blood would flow in under high pressure. In this situation, the blood circulation in the embryo would stop as a result of the outside pressure of the mother's.

In subsequent weeks, a number of these special cells again form a buffer between the embryo and the mother's blood. This buffer is called the "placenta" which has a very particular structure. When we look closely, we see that the trophoblast cells form this buffer to act as a blood stopper. This is a very important feature, because the embryo is now connected to the mother's tissues and will be fed by the nutrients coming from the mother's blood. It is necessary for the nutrients to enter, but it is very important that the defensive cells in the mother's uterus not reach the embryo along with the nutrients. So, the stopper system formed by the placenta prevents the defensive cells in the mother's uterus from approaching the embryo. But if the flow of blood from the mother is blocked, how is the embryo to be nourished?

The answer to this question shows the perfection of the design found in the structure of the cells. Tiny empty spaces found among the cells which serve as the stoppers, are of such a size as to allow the nutrients needed by the embryo to be drawn from the mother's blood plasma. Oxygen, nutrient material and minerals from the mother's blood, pass through these spaces and reach the embryo. But the defensive cells, because they are so large, cannot pass through these spaces.31

If we think of the bridge that they establish between the mother and the embryo, it would not be wrong to say that the work done by the trophoblast cells requires a flawless knowledge of engineering. With the system that they construct, they really establish the foundation of a "bridge of life" between the mother and the baby. These cells act as a stopper to prevent dangerous material from entering the blood and, by leaving spaces between themselves, they allow the appropriate material to pass.

What we have said here describes only a few of the functions of the trophoblast cells, but it is enough to give an idea of the perfect design of these cells. In all the adjustments they make, they leave vacant spaces forming a system which both determines what material is beneficial and allows it to pass; they know what material is dangerous for the embryo and do not permit it to enter. It is very clear that such a structure could not come about by chance.

Anyone who claims that all these extraordinary features are the result of chance, will certainly be unable to answer the questions below:

How do these cells know what the embryo needs for its development?

How do they determine which material out of the several materials carried in the blood is beneficial?

How do they know that the immune system cells will be dangerous for the embryo?

How do they determine in advance the size of the material that will harm the embryo?

How do they have the knowledge to make a filter to prevent the passage of harmful material and to allow the passage of beneficial material?

In order for the human race to continue, this system cannot have the slightest error. Anyone with intelligence and awareness knows that chance did not give these cells their particular characteristics. Chance cannot produce a design and make this design exactly the same in every human being. It is God Who creates the trophoblast cells with all their special characteristics and directs them in their supportive role in the formation of a human being. This is only an example of the matchless creative art of God:

We have not created the heavens and earth and everything between them except with truth and for a set term. But those who disbelieve turn away from Our warning. Say: "Have you thought about those you call upon apart from God? Show me what they have created on the earth. Or do they have a partnership in the heavens? Produce a Book for me revealed before this one or some other shred of divine knowledge, if you are telling the truth." (Qur'an, 46: 3-4)

30. National Institute of Health, Researchers Discover How Embryo Attaches to the Uterus News Release, January 16, 2003 (http://www.nichd.nih.gov/new/releases/embryo.cfm)
31. Science et Vie, March 1995, No.190, pp. 21-22