Archive for the ‘Stem Cells’ Category

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Stem Cell functioning for treatment of Arthritis and Osteoarthritis

Saturday, May 12th, 2012

The research for these cells has been found from decades and expanded to a great extent.  Commonly it involves embryonic stem cell research and utilizes adult cells to cure the diseases and one of the major diseases cured by stem cells is the treatment of arthritis and osteoarthritis with stem cell preservation from long years.

Mesenchymal stem cells: Recent studies show a significant effect on arthritis and osteoarthritis. The potential treatment of stem cell for arthritis is probably overseen in a different way. It makes use of different properties of stem cells because the method of degeneration differs for these two forms of arthritic treatments like some stem cells are used for regenerative abilities and other to regulate immune system of the body.

After applying such therapies to patients, positive feedbacks have been achieved from those who were undergoing isolated health problems. Although, this treatment was not the reason to cure the diseases at initial stage and do not demand any evidence to apply treatment, yet they have reported significant relief after going through such therapies.

Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis can be differentiated into bone, gristle and many other cell types. It holds a great potential for easing the pain for osteoarthritis in joints and regenerates the damaged tissues.

Intravenous stem cell therapy: This type of stem cell transplant uses hematopoietic cells and for number of years it has been extensively used in veterinary medicines.  Stem cell preservation from many years also helps in the treatment of arthritis and osteoarthritis in companion animals are injected directly into the damaged joints. Again the results for such diseases have proven much more effective for reducing the autoimmune attacks that are coherent with RA, inhibit the swelling and pain and finally endorses regeneration of active tissues.

Along with the ability to derive stem cells from patients, it has also become an opener for possible treatments and in fact, without any use of human embryonic or cord blood stem cells. These cells are less promptly obtainable and bogged down in some principled arguments.

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Stem Cell Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

Most probably, this type of immune system attacks the joints initially and then the surrounding tissues. Gradually it progresses and attacks other organs of the body as well.  These cells continue to grow in the body till the person or animal is alive. It may be turned into other particular cells that provide healthy growing cells free of the disease and can be used for treatment of many disorders, including Rheumatoid arthritis.

At present, RA is treated with immune restrictive agents such as steroid hormones, methotrexate, cyclosporine, gold, and the most recent treatment of infliximab (Remicade). In spite of bringing on short-term improvement, these advancements possess permanent and unpleasant effects due to imprecise prohibition of immune responses. Moreover, existing treatments do not cover the damage of tissues which has already attacked on joints or extra-articular tissues.

Stem cell preservation for treatment, on the other hand, demonstrates to induce deep healing activities with various forms of arthritis. The utilization of adult stem cells treats the arthritis caused by patient’s own fat which has been called asautologous adipose tissue.

Treatment Procedure

The fat tissue is accumulated by mini-liposuction. This accumulation is performed by a certified plastic surgeon under a state of total unconsciousness resulting from anesthetic drugs.  T regulatory cells and Mesenchymal stem cells are found within this tissue and further separate the somatic cells from the fat.  The whole process is submitted to severe quality control and before they are permitted to treatment, the enduring fatty stem cells are tested for quality, bacterial contagion and endotoxin.

Besides the treatment of damaged tissues, stem cell preservation have the distinctive ability to transform the immune system to block off morbid responses. The other stem cells and specially the mesenchymal stem cells home to swollen tissues and give rise to instigative agents. But these mediators proceeds only in the local areas and do not inhibit the immune reaction of the entire body.  In addition, stem cells of mesenchymal persuade the yielding of T regulatory cells, which is a kind of resistant cell and protects the body against immunological attack by itself.

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Why is it important to preserve stem cells?

Saturday, March 31st, 2012

Stem cells are found in a child’s cord blood, which are used in the treatment of numerous diseases. Stem cells are also used to replace other cells that are destroyed by severe diseases. There are two types of stem cells- One is Embryonic cells, which are found in embryos and helps in the formation of tissues; another type is the Adult stem cells, which are called as repair cells that help in repairing and regeneration of lost cells.

These days, there are many methods through, which stem cells are preserved and used for curing many diseases. There are many blood banks that help in stem cell banking in India. These banks help in preserving a child’s future like private stem cell banks and public stem cell banks.

Public stem cell banks preserve cord blood stem cells, which can also be used by any other person except family members if the bone marrow of the person matches with the child’s bone marrow. But in case of private cord blood banks only the family person can use the bone marrow if it matches.

Cord blood is collected during the delivery of a child, which contains viable stem cells. The collection process is conducted by the medical team and the cord blood is further sent for processing and for stem cell preservation. After reaching cord blood bank, the blood and placenta undergoes various processes, such as is the cord blood it is checked for the infections, stem cells are obtained from the cord blood and lastly cryo preservatives are added so that the stem cells remain viable. The process is done with the separation of red blood cells or by keeping the blood cells intact with specimen.

After the cord blood is derived from the child’s umbilical cord, the blood is tested for the presence of communicable diseases and accordingly preservatives are added. The process of stem cell preservation is done on a slow cooling process, so that the stem cells are intact. The preservation of stem cells helps the child to fight back any severe disease and it can also be used by other person for treating their disease but only if the bone marrow matches.

It has been surveyed that stem cells from umbilical cord can treat 80 severe diseases and it has been also used in over 25000 transplants worldwide. There are many stem cell banks all over the world, where you can preserve your child’s future as well as you can also help other family members in treating and curing severe diseases. Hence, it is important to preserve a child’s stem cells.

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Advantages of cord blood stem cells

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

Stem cells are non specialized type of cells that are present in all human beings and have the potential to create other types of cells like tissue cells, liver cells, heart cells, brain cells, kidney cells, blood cells or muscle cells. These are only found at a particular stage (a blastocyst) in human embryos. The main function of these cells is that they circulate and function to replace dysfunctional cells, which helps in maintaining optimal health. There are primarily two type of cells; including adult cells and embryonic cells.

These cells are able to develop into any type of cell division in the human body. The cells are called as pluripotent and totipotent. Pluripotent cells have the ability to form different type tissue types. Totipotent cells are different and they can form some types of tissues. These tissues are mainly found in umbilical cord blood, fetus and also in different adult tissues.

Different researches have been carried out to find out, which all diseases can be cured with the help of stem cells. These cells help in the treatment of number of diseases, some of them are mentioned below:

● Parkinson’s Disease
● Birth Defects
● Replace or Repair Damaged Organs
● Alzheimer’s Disease
● Spinal Cord Injuries
● Heart Diseases, Stroke and Diabetes
● Reduced Risk of Transplantation
● Curing cancer

By differentiating stem cells into specialized cell types, a renewable source of replacement can be achieved for the patients that are suffering from the above mentioned diseases. Stem cells also known as cord blood cells offer numerous advantages that are as follows:

● These cells are isolated from cord blood and are more useful and easier to isolate.
● Stem cells present in the cord blood can be readily isolated from placenta, when the child takes birth.
● Cord blood can be stored in cord blood banking and can be transplanted back to the same donor or to a family member and even to an unrelated recipient.
● Stem cells can be harvested from bone marrow but it is difficult as compared to cord blood; it is because harvesting procedure involves surgery.
● Banked stem cells that are harvested from cord blood are easily available and have been proved useful for patients, who are suffering from immune deficiency, leukemia or anemia.
● It has been proved that cord blood has more capacity of producing high number of new blood cells as compared to the bone marrow stem cells.
● When cord blood is used in the treatment then stem cell rejection is less; it is because of the fact that cord blood is not involved in the immune reaction.

Cord blood cells are playing a major role in the pharmaceutical industry. New drugs can be tested on the stem cells for assuring the safety before testing these on human and animal models. If the testing conditions are perfectly replicated then testing drugs offer accurate results.

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Bio-Technology helps in preserving umbilical cord stem cells for treating threatening diseases

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Thanks to bio-technology that has ensured us with promising cure for diseases like leukemia and diabetes. Doctors have been able to preserve umbilical cord blood stem cells through bio-technologically updated preservation techniques. All the public and private banks use this technique. Preservation of the unspecialized stem cells is done in laboratories that are regenerative in nature and can give rise to specialized cells that help in treating leukemia. The cells are preserved within 10 minutes after a mother gives birth to her child. After the cord is collected, it is sent to the laboratories to be cryopreserved. There are several procedures to preserve the blood stem; in some process the red blood cells are removed from the cord blood and preserve it without red blood cells, while some other process involve preservation with the red blood cells.

Different doctors and scientists have different opinion about which is the best preservation technique, both the process has been successful for preserving blood stem cells for future usage.

A cryopreservant is added to the cord blood that allows stem cells to survive the cryogenic process. After the process is complete the unit is left to cool down at -90˚ C. Then it is kept in liquid-nitrogen tanks that keep it frozen at -196˚ C. This process keeps the cells alive for years. In its preservation code of technique, the process is much similar to the bone-marrow preservations.

It is a painless procedure that is largely supported by people over bone marrow transplantation. Stem cells from cord blood are much simple to get because they are voluntarily obtained from the placenta at the time of delivery with the consent of mother.

Both private and public preservation banks offer facilities for preservation of Umbilical cord blood stem cells. Public banks take universal donors, while private banks take limited people to bank with. Medical community prefers public banks because the cords in public banks are for universal usage and can be used for treating unanimous patients. A broader range of recipients may benefit from cord blood stem cells, therefore, banked stem cells from cord blood can be more readily available and this can be especially crucial for patients with severe cases of leukemia, anemia or immune deficiency who would, otherwise die before a match can be found. Cord blood also is less likely to contain certain infectious agents like some viruses that can pose a risk to transplant recipients.

These cells are stimulated in body through a tube or a central line that goes into the seam in the patient’s chest. The transplanted cells move into the spaces inside the bones and create new marrow. These grow and make healthy new red blood cells platelets and white blood platelets. These umbilical cord blood stem cells are an exact genetic match for the child. Therefore, preserving them they guarantee a source of perfectly matched stem cells in the event that they develop a life threatening disease that could be treated using these cells.

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