Tag Archives: stem cell therapy

embryonic stem cells

Reasons you need to start storing and growing your embryonic stem cells

August 28, 2016

There are some reasons scientists are pushing for embryonic stem cells use which leads to the question, what is so special about these stem cells? What makes them better than others?

Embryonic stem cells are quite similar to adult stem cells. What makes them different is that fact that they are still young and can differentiate to form all kinds of body cells. This characteristic enables them to be used to treat a variety of illnesses that include, spinal cord injury, heart failure, diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientist thinks that this is possible simply because they can change to any cell in the human body. In certain cases, physicians grow cells in the laboratory that will be used to replace the cells that are either damaged due to an injury or just old to perform their roles.

However, there is still a lot of research being done to find out if this therapy can be used to cure illnesses. Due to this, there is are clinical trials taking place in the US and other countries. In addition to their ability to treat several complications it has also been proven that human embryonic stem cells can be used to recover from surgery, heal burns wound and more.

If you are an in vitro fertilization patient, there are high chances you may have more than one embryo you are planning to use in pregnancy. If you find out that they are of an inferior quality, you might no longer want to use them.

 

embryonic stem cells

When this happens, you might want to grow your discard frozen embryos to form human embryonic stem cells. Just like physicians do when banking cord blood samples, these embryonic stem cells can be kept for future use. Science has proven that, provided the human embryonic stem cells are kept in a -320 degrees Fahrenheit liquid nitrogen, they’ll be able to last a lifetime.

Why do you need to store your embryonic stem cells?

Your cord blood stem cells created will be genetically identical to you are anyone related to you by 50%. The fact that they are created or obtained from a young embryo, it is often assumed that their immune identity isn’t fully functional.

This might be preserved to a point where the cord blood cells can be grown to form specific cells in the body. As a result, the body of a person who is related to you won’t be able to reject simply because they won’t be able to identify it as an outside object.

The bottom line

Having your cord blood stem cells stored may come in handy in future. One of your family members might need an organ replacement, tissue repair and much more, but finding a donor that matches him or her might not be easy, and this is where your human embryonic stem cells might find their use.

 

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adult stem cell

The future of stem cell therapy

August 27, 2016

Of all the cells in human body, stem cells are the most essential. Unlike other cells, they have the ability to differentiate to form several kinds of cells with varying functions. They can also self-generate to produce extra stem cells.

While still young, they are capable of becoming any cell in human body. They have the ability to copy and adopt the makeup of a particular cell, a trait that enables them to repair the human body. This is also one of the characteristics that make them quite effective in treating several diseases through a process called cell therapy.

Adult stem cell transplantation is a common type of stem cell therapy that is being used to treat several blood complications as well as cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and more.

 

adult stem cell

To use a bone marrow, physicians target a bone marrow of a donor whose blood matches that of the patient. The bone marrow is obtained through a process of chemotherapy or radiation. The bone marrow is then transferred to the body of the patient. In the patient’s body, the cells start top self-generate creating new cells to replace the old or damaged cells. It is then followed by a similar process, but this time, the stem cells aren’t obtained from the bone marrow.

Another useful source is the umbilical cord. It is indifferent from the first two mentioned above. The only difference is that the stem cells are derived from the umbilical cord blood of a newborn baby. They are also considered the best simply because, it isn’t easy for any patient’s body to reject the cord blood cells unlike what is evident with other sources such as the adult stem cells and more.

This is because these kinds of cells are still young and have some features that no human body might recognize as an external substance. This is also one of the reasons several unending debates surround this kind of therapy.

A lot of people think that destroying an embryo to get this kind of cells is going against ethics. A scientist has tried to disapprove this misconception by saying that these kinds of cells can be obtained from an embryo that is no longer in use. Instead of disposing of an embryo when they no longer need it, mothers donate these embryos to labs where they are used as a source of stem cells.

Cord blood cells have provided lots of opportunities for an extended research on stem cell therapy. Researchers have developed a theory that this kind of cells, unlike the adult stem cells, have the ability to treat several diseases such as neurological as well as cardiac disorders. As a result, informed parents have started preserving the blood of their newborn babies for future emergencies.

 

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stem cells

Stem cell therapy for heart failure

August 25, 2016

Stem cells have become a center of focus in the world of medicine today. Their ability to reproduce has led to several debates to whether they are safe for treatments or not. Apparently, stem cells are the predecessors of all body cells that can be obtained from the adults’ bone marrow, spleen, and other organs.

This is one way your body maintains a proper balance between cells so as to regenerate new cells when the old cells die. For instance, a red blood cell has approximately four months to live. The bone marrow produces new cells that will replace the old red blood cells when they die.

Stem cells for heart failure

Heart failure is one of the fatal complications affecting humans today. Even with all the hard work doctors and researchers do, patients often end up dead due to organ damage. Researchers have been working so hard to find a way to stop heart failure from taking more lives and stem cell has proven to be a potential solution.

 

stem cells

There are some stem cells. Currently, scientists are more into embryonic as well as adult stem cells. The source of embryonic stem cells is blastocyst which is a 5-year old human embryo. These cells always breed to form human body as well as fetuses internal organs.

One of the reasons embryonic stem cells are more valued is the fact that they are not limited to a specific cell type. They can reproduce to become any cell in the human body. One of the drawbacks of obtaining this type of cell is that an embryo must be destroyed first which to many is unethical.

Stem cells can also work for several transplants. One unfortunate fact is that it is never easy to obtain an organ needed for transplant. More often physicians have to wait for several years to find a healthy organ. Stem cells are grown in a laboratory and if they are activated to differentiate they will become any cell in human body.

The overall result is a tissue that will easily adapt to any environment. According to scientists working on the project, if stem cells are placed in a proper environment, they can grow to form a heart tissue that can be transplanted to a patient who has symptoms of heart failure. Doing this will enable his or her heart to work properly reducing increasing his or her chances of survival.

There are some research publications based on the application of stem cells to symptoms related to heart failure. Congestive heart failure often results from failure of the heart cells to function properly. This, in turn, affects the way the human heart pumps blood.

There are some treatments that have worked for several patients that include the transfer or mechanical aids. Unfortunately, it is never a guarantee that a patient would survive. Stem cell therapy is quite hopeful as it aims to tackle heart failure before it destroys life, but its application is yet to be fully accepted.

 

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stem cell therapy

Can Stem Cell Therapy cure ALS?

August 17, 2016

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis often abbreviated as ALS is among the most dangerous degenerative disorders. Resulting from a progressive degeneration of the neurons, ALS is one of the brain illnesses characterized by continuous death of brain cells affecting the neurons that are located in the spinal cord area as well as the brain.

Some studies have shown that two out of a million suffer ALS each year. The number has continuously grown and forced medical experts as well as scientists to look for an effective treatment approach based regeneration of neurons’ cells so as to restore the functioning of the brain.

As we all know, the brain is one thing that a body can’t survive without. Its purpose is to control and coordinate every part of the body. One of the reasons, it is considered the best in handling whole body functions is the fact that it can effectively network each and every information sent to the brain via particular stimuli and conveyed via neurons in a useful manner.

The cells (motor neurons) affected by ALS functions best to pass down every information that comes from the brain to several muscle parts in the body through a spinal cord.

The neural damage might result depending on factors that involve several risks including generation of protein flakes, alteration of the genes and more. When any of these happens, chances that the passage of information will be compromised are high increasing the likelihood of the neurons to be damaged.

If the required information can’t be sent, the muscle of which the message was intended and that controls voluntary movements will weaken. And that is the reason most ALS victims end up being paralyzed or in some cases dead due to their dysfunctional respiratory system. One unfortunate fact is that no effective ALS treatment has been found yet.

What causes ALS?

As mentioned earlier, ALS might be encouraged by some factors that include manipulation of the genes with other environmental factors. Almost 10% of ALS cases are claimed to result from inheritance of potent genes. This is evident because only a few cases have been solved by technologies such a stem cell therapy.

 

stem cell therapy

Stem cell as a cure for ALS

Stem cell technology involves the production of cells intended for a particular tissue. Their primary purpose is to restore the functionality of the damaged organs. Due to this, stem cell therapy is considered as one of the best remedies for ALS simply because it can be used to regenerate new neuronal cells. It can also be used to prevent the damage of the tissues from further progressing.

How Stem Cells Work

Stem cells are always obtained from the body of a patient. Autologous sources include adipose tissue and bone marrow known to be among the best options for mesenchymal and hematopoietic stem cells. These two works best together. For example, hematopoietic stem cells are used for different purposes that include enhancing the immune system, stopping the damage from progressing, and more while mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into several nerve cells and supports the cells to improve on the results.

Available data has proven that stem cells are capable of treating ALS.

 

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dental pulp stem cells

Understanding How Dental Pulp Stem Cells Use and Banking Works

July 19, 2016

Dental pulp can simply be defined as the soft living tissue that exists inside your tooth. These soft tissues contain stem cells that are known as DPSCs. Just like any other stem cells, DPSCs have the ability to become any cell in human body.

Among the best functional Dental Pulp Stem Cells can be obtained from the baby’s milk teeth either on the lower or the upper incisors and canines. Studies have shown that this kind of stem cells can also be found in the wisdom tooth of a young adult.

Dental Pulp Stem Cells can be likened to mesenchymal cells known to be quite beneficial in various treatments. These cells can differentiate to form different types of cells in the body that includes, osteoblasts, adipocytes as well as chondrocytes.

Potential Uses of Dental Pulp Stem Cells

Dental Pulp Stem cells are among the vital requirements in regenerative stem cell therapies of several degenerative related complications. They offer a variety of potential therapeutic applications that include.

  • Myocytes: Muscle tissue repair
  • Neuronal: Brain and nerve tissue regeneration
  • Adipocytes: Fat tissue generation
  • Chondrocytes: They can generate and regenerate cartilage vital for joint injuries and arthritis treatments.
  • Osteocytes: Generation of Bones

In summary, dental pulp stem cells have the ability to generate some structures in the body that include bone, cartilage, dental tissue and more.

Understanding Dental Pulp stems cell harvesting

Stem cell harvesting is simply a procedure that involves the collection, storage as well as the preservation of Dental Pulp Stem cells. To maintain their nature, DPSCs have to be frozen and kept inside a stem cell bank. This requires the use of cryopreservation technology that maintains the stem cell’s variability. Here is the procedure.

dental pulp stem cells

Stem Cell Harvesting Steps

  1. Collecting of the cells: Here a dentist will extract the tooth from the donor and store it in a kit. The dentist will then send to the facility to be processed.
  2. Separating the stem cells from the dental pulp: Here the stem cells will be obtained from the dental pulp by crushing the tooth to access the cells. The cells will then be checked for sterility as well as quality.
  3. Preservation of the stem cells: If the stem cells make it past the viability test they will be preserved cryogenically. The cells will be frozen at a temperature of -238 F.

Advantages of Dental Pulp Stem Cell Banking

  1. Dental Pulp Stem Cells banking period is wide. It will work best for kids aged between 5 to 12 years as well as the seniors whose wisdom tooth is to be extracted.
  2. The collection from the dental pulp is easy, quick, effective and painless and the best part has no risks.
  3. Dental Pulp Stem cells have no controversies surrounding their use unlike what we see with the embryonic stem cells.
  4. They have also proven to be interactive with biomaterials putting them among the best choices for tissue repair.

The bottom line

Currently, several debates are revolving around the procedure behind stem cell application. There are ethical issues that give the proponents a hard time explaining why the world needs it. Using Dental Pulp Stem cells, on the other hand, is simple, safe and the best part, free of ethical issues.

 

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