Umbilical cord Umbilical cord In placental mammals, the umbilical cord (also called the navel string, birth cord or funiculus umbilicalis) is a conduit between the developing embryo or fetus and the placenta. During prenatal development, the umbilical cord is physiologically and genetically part of the fetus and (in humans) normally contains two arteries (the umbilical arteries) and one vein (the umbilical vein), buried within Wharton's jelly. The umbilical vein supplies the fetus with oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood from the placenta. Conversely, the fetal heart pumps low oxygen containing blood, nutrient-depleted blood through the umbilical arteries back to the placenta. The umbilical cord develops
The Creation of Adam the brain stem, the frontal lobe, the basilar artery, the pituitary gland and the optic chiasm. Alternatively, it has been observed that the red cloth around God has the shape of a human uterus (one art historian has called it a "uterine mantle") and that the scarf hanging out, coloured green, could be a newly cut umbilical cord. Recently a group of Italian researchers published on "Mayo Clinic Proceedings" an article where the images of the mantle and the postpartum uterus were overlapped. According to Enrico Bruschini (2004), "This is an interesting hypothesis that presents the Creation scene as an