Regenerative Medicine

698 Words2 Pages

Common among all living things is our starting point. No matter our species, origin, or sex, we all develop from a single cell. Acting as the foundation for our growth and development, it is the cells ability to develop into other cells that may hold the key to the future of medicine. With current technology, common ailments like disease and injury are healed through direct approaches and treatment like medicine. While this approach has significantly increased the health and well-being of humanity, it does have its shortcomings. Researching and development of these medicines and solutions have become a multi-billion dollar industry with medicines and treatments easily costing thousands of dollars. In an effort to gain a more indirect and more universal approach, scientists are now looking into the abilities of the single cell that acts as the starting point of growth, stem cells. With the capability to develop into multiple cell types that allow for regenerative healing, stem cells are able to not only develop cures for simple illnesses but more advanced problems like physical injury and disease including diabetes and heart disease (Keirstead et al. 2005).

Roughly every thirty-four seconds, cardiovascular disease takes the live of another American. With a death toll near 2,600 individuals’ everyday, the disease has established its lead as the number one cause of death since 1918. Overtime cardiovascular disease has the ability of depriving heart tissue of oxygen, killing the cardiac muscle cells. With the loss of these cells, a number of other problems occur including the formation of scar tissue and increased blood pressure. Over time these conditions develop into eventual heart failure and in many cases, death. Gi...

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...ure-all ability of stem cells.

Works Cited
Keirstead H S, Nistor G, Bernal G, Totoiu M, Cloutier F, Sharp K, Steward O. Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Transplants Remyelinate and Restore Locomotion after Spinal Cord Injury, The Journal of Neuroscience 2005; 25 (19): 4694-4705. Available from: http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/25/19/4694. Accessed 2010 Feb. 01.

National Institute of Health (U.S.) [N.I.H.S.]. Stem Cell Basics. Bethesda (MD): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2009 Apr 28.

Wade N. The New York Times. 2007 June 06; Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/science/06cnd-cell.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2. Accessed 2010 Feb. 19.

Weiss R. The Washington Post. 2007 June 07; Available from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060601345.html. Accessed 2010 Feb. 17.

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