According to the Department of Health and Human Services, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States (1). The medical community is constantly looking for new technologies and discoveries to treat heart disease more effectively. Methods include mechanical based therapies such as artificial heart valves and drug based approaches as with anticoagulant medications. Recently, exciting new discoveries have been made by the scientific community in the development of stem cell based therapies. If scientist could identify and cultivate cells that would reestablish oxygenated blood flow to damaged heart tissue and generate new muscle tissue it would change the landscape of cardiovascular medicine. Actually, this process has already begun as research focuses on a specific cell with these qualities, the mesenchymal stem cell.
Mesenchymal stem cells originate from the mesoderm, the middle germ layer of an embryo, and play a vital role in the formation of connective tissue such as bone, cartilage, marrow, fat and blood. They are also precursor cells that help to produce cardiac, skeletal, and smooth muscle. Mesenchymal stem cells are found in every organ of the body but are most commonly obtained from bone marrow. Mesenchymal stem cells are classified as multi-potent stem cells. Multi-potent stem cells can transform into many different cell types that are of the same lineage. These innate traits make them prime candidates for use in developing heart disease treatments. While research and clinical trials are still in their infant stages, mesenchymal stem cells possess many desirable characteristics necessary to successfully regenerate heart tissue and restore heart function after heart attack.
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Stem cells are the building blocks of the human body. Embryos consist of unspecialized stem cells that transform into the various specialized cells in the body such as cardiac, muscle or bone cells. Fetuses also have stem cells. However, the stem cells are divided into types like muscle, bone or nerves and don't perform a specialized function. Surprisingly, adult bodies also contain stem cells. In adults, stem cells are undifferentiated but limited to specific tissue type. When needed, the stem cells transform into the cells needed for repair and maintenance. The most common source of adult stem cells is bone marrow. Researchers also acquire stem cells from umbilical cords. Without stem cells, embryos could not develop into fetuses and adult
“Through the isolation and manipulation of cells, scientists are finding ways to identify young, regenerating ones that can be used to replace damaged of dead cells in diseased organs. This therapy is similar to the process of organ transplant, only the treatment consists of the transplantation of cells rather than organs. The cells that have shown by far the most promise of supplying diseased organs with healthy cells are called stem cells.” (Chapter Preface)
New cells are often produced in the body during growth and development. In addition, new cells also develop as the body repairs and remodels its tissues after an injury. These new cells come from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are considered as multipotent cells. MSCs are found in various parts of the body during growth and development, but in adults, they are present in the bone marrow, where they later differentiate, mature and migrate to become more specialized cells with unique functions. These cells' potential to develop into bone cells, cartilage cells, muscle cells and fat cells makes their role in regeneration, repair and remodelling important, especially when the body undergoes the normal process of aging or recovers from disease or injury.
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As stated on the Neostem website, “Stem cells have remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth.” They are used for cell therapeutics and the advantages are many. They offer a source of renewable cells to replace the damaged or dead cells that can be cause disabilitating ...
... U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of
The wide range of prospective uses for stem cells could greatly improve the health and wellbeing of many people. In stem cell treatments, undifferentiated cells are programmed to form specific cells, which can then be transplanted to the afflicted area. Stems cells can possibly treat afflictions including “Alzheimer’s diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis” (“Stem Cell Basics”). Another important use is in drug testing. Drugs can be tested on stem cells that develop into the target tissue before using it on human test subjects, which improves safety. Finally, transplantation of organs created from stem cells could eliminate the need for human...
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Stem Cells and Healing: Impact on Inflammation: William J. Ennis,1 " 2' * Audrey Sui, 2 and Amelia Bartholomew3.
...there are some risk factors in using stem cell for therapeutic approaches, hematopoietic stem cell therapy by bone marrow transplantation has already been proofed to be safe if donors’ background and screening, cell contamination, HLA matching and opportunistic or nosocomial infections during immunocompromised period were carefully monitored and controlled. Still, other types of stem cell therapies, despite of their good therapeutic efficacy, are remain in experimental stage and need more data to support and demonstrate the safety in clinical trials. More understanding of stem cell biology is also required in order to keep stem cell under controlled and avoid some complications that they might cause. So, to pave the way for successful stem cell therapy, research in this extent is needed to pursue to maximized therapeutic efficiency with highest safety in patients.
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Researchers in this field are seek to know how stem cells can be used to develop into specialized cells or tissue, which aims restore lost function in damaged organs or even grow new fully functioning organs for transplant.