by admin | Dec 14, 2018 | Parkinson's Disease, Stem Cell Research, Studies
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that causes tremor,rigidity, changes in facial expression, and several other symptoms. Whilesufferers usually retain their full cognitive abilities and memory, they tendto be impacted in mood and some mental health conditions that emerge as part ofthe condition process.
Parkinson’s disease is caused by loss of brain cells in a specific region of the brain called the substantia nigra. The neurons in this area of the brain contain dopamine, and as those nerve cells die, the levels of dopamine in the brain decrease. Consequently, patients with Parkinson’s disease often take medications that improve or accentuate dopamine signaling in the brain. These drugs can be effective for a certain period of time, but eventually, the condition will overcome the ability of these drugs to improve dopamine signaling. There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, but researchers hope stem cells may be the answer.
Since dopamine drugs have worked reasonably well to control the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, researchers assumed that replacing dopamine cells in the brain would help treat Parkinson’s disease. In a way, it did. When people with Parkinson’s disease received transplants of stem cells intended to produce dopamine, some of them experienced dramatic improvements in motor function. However, patients still had several other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease such as fatigue, bowel problems, sexual problems, and mood disorders. Neuroscience researchers realized Parkinson’s is not just about a loss of dopamine. It turns out, that while stem cells can help restore dopamine in people with Parkinson’s disease, they also coulduse help with serotoninneuron regenerating.
As a result of this groundbreaking work, researchers are now planning and implementing experiments in which Parkinson’s disease patients will receive stem cell transplants containing both dopamine cells and seroton in cells. If effective, we will be one step closer to a new and powerful treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
Reference: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/parkinsons-is-much-more-than-dopamine/?WT.mc_id=send-to-friend
by admin | Dec 3, 2018 | Osteoarthritis, Stem Cell Research, Studies
The human skeleton is made up of bone, cartilage, fat, nerves, blood vessels, and bone marrow. While the skeleton is usually strong and vibrant in youth, it changes considerably with age. Many people, especially women, experience demineralization of bone called osteoporosis. Most of us will suffer from painful, stiff, arthritic joints either from osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis or both. While some of the diseases of bone and joints have specific treatments, none of them helps to restore bone and joints to their younger state. If one could reintroduce skeletal stem cells into the body, that could all change. Excitingly, researchers have recently isolated human skeletal stem cells from bone and other tissues.
At first glance, this breakthrough may not seem so surprising. One might wonder: didn’t we already have stem cells that form bone and cartilage? The answer is yes, but with an important caveat. Before researchers recently isolated human skeletal stem cells, the only stem cells that could be used to produce bone and cartilage were rather unpredictable. In addition to bone and cartilage, the mesenchymal stem cells that have been long used to form these tissues could also produce fat, muscle, fiberglass, blood vessel cells, and other tissues. In other words, the stem cells were broadly multipotent and, by extension, could not easily be used for a specific purpose, like mending bone or repairing an arthritic joint. That is why the recent discovery of these particular skeletal stem cells is so important.
The researchers isolated skeletal stem cells from various human tissues, mainly bone. They then used the skeletal stem cells to regrow bone and/or cartilage. Not only did the stem cells produce bone and cartilage in the first animal they tested, but they could retrieve stem cells from that animal and then cause bone to regrow in a second animal. This means that the skeletal stem cells have the capability of reproducing themselves.
The same researchers also discovered that when a skeleton is injured, such as in a bone fracture, the number of skeletal stem cells in that area increases dramatically. This makes sense since these cells are used to repair and regrow bone. It is also a promising result because it suggests that stem cells could be used to accelerate bone and joint healing in humans.
Scientists not directly involved in this research heralded this finding as “an extremely important advance.” However, they also acknowledge that more work needs to be done before skeletal stem cells can be routinely used in patients with orthopedic conditions. Nevertheless, these results are an exciting development in the field of stem cell research and orthopedics.
Reference: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/humans-have-skeletal-stem-cells-help-bones-and-cartilage-grow
by admin | Nov 19, 2018 | Adipose, Osteoarthritis, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy
Bone generally develops via one of two distinct mechanisms: intramembranous ossification and endochondral ossification. In the former case, mesenchymal progenitor cells directly differentiate into osteoblasts that form bone. In the latter case, the mesenchymal progenitor cells first create a matrix of cartilage that then acts as a template to enable the remodeling or development of bone tissue. This process of endochondral ossification is the predominant way that bone is generating during the healing process after bones are broken and fractures are endured. Using stem cells to facilitate this process can, therefore, be beneficial in non-healing bone fractures.
A new study published in Acta Biomaterialia has proposed that adipose tissue can be used in bone generation as a scaffold on which adipose mesenchymal stem cells can expand and allow for endochondral ossification. The researchers showed how adipose tissue could be used in this way, through what they termed Adiscaf, to successfully generate cartilage tissue and eventually bone tissue formation. The bone tissue that formed through this process contained bone marrow elements, further demonstrating the bone’s integrity and the promise of this procedure.
Compared to other strategies for building scaffolding, this strategy appeared successful because by using adipose tissue, the adipose stem cells were exposed to their native environment and therefore likely maintained functions they otherwise may not have. Not only will these findings help to solidify our understanding of how to nurture stem cells and enable them to differentiate in ways that can be therapeutically applicable, but they also specifically show how adipose tissue may be able to be used to generate a bone organ through endochondral ossification. Future research will likely help to clarify how these findings can be applied to patients to improve bone healing.
by admin | Nov 14, 2018 | Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy
Evidence has been accumulating for years showing how stem cells can serve therapeutic functions. Much of this research focuses on how stem cells can be applied to damaged tissue to help regenerate the area. Because stem cells can differentiate into a wide variety of cell types, they can be widely utilized to repair distinct types of tissue. However, a recent paper published in the World Journal of Stem Cells has described how stem cells can also be used to carry therapeutic agents to tissues and organs to help with regeneration.
Stem cells are good candidates for delivering genes, proteins, and small molecules to areas of interest because they have an innate ability to migrate to sites of injury. One challenge for using stem cells for this type of therapeutic delivery is how to load the stem cells with the therapeutic agents. There are pros and cons for the techniques that have been investigated.
Polymeric nanoparticles, are FDA approved and are versatile, uploaded efficiently, and biocompatible. However, it is hard to control the release of the therapeutic agent from the stem cells. Magnetic nanoparticles are not associated with high levels of toxicity and are efficient with loading. However, they can induce oxidative stress in carrier cells.
Silica nanoparticles have quick uptake, are non-toxic, stay within cells for a long time, and are versatile. However, their tendency to stay within cells for a long time can sometimes be a disadvantage when the agent needs to be cleared.
Liposomal nanoparticles are relatively easy to manufacture and are versatile in their therapeutic agent delivery. However, these nanoparticles are less efficient at uptake and need higher concentrations of the therapeutic agent loaded, which can be toxic to cells.
Once stem cells are loaded with bioactive molecules, there are a few ways that they can be guided toward target organs. For instance, they can be systemically infused so that they can migrate to their target areas trough blood flow.
Further research will help to clarify how well stem cells can be used to help deliver therapeutic agents to damaged or impaired tissue. Investigation into the different nanoparticles, stem cells, and potential therapeutic applications will help us better understand the extent to which stem cells can be used in regenerative medicine.
by admin | Oct 30, 2018 | Studies, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy
Spinal cord injury is the second leading cause of paralysis in the United States. When the spinal cord is severely injured, nerve cells in the spinal cord are damaged or destroyed. Also, a sort of scar forms in the affected area, which prevents nerve signals from traveling between the brain and the extremities. Consequently, people who sustain spinal cord injuries suffer from paralysis. The degree of paralysis depends on the location of the spinal cord injury; injuries higher on the spinal cord such as the neck or upper back area can lead to paralysis of all four limbs, for example. In almost all cases, the paralysis is permanent once it occurs, because nerve cells in the spinal cord do not regenerate.
Because spinal cord injuries are common and the consequences are usually permanent, researchers have been aggressively and tirelessly researching ways to treat this condition. One approach is to try to form new nerve cells in the spinal cord using stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells can become new nerve cells given the right set of circumstances. Unfortunately, simply injecting mesenchymal stem cells into patients with severe spinal cord injuries cannot reverse paralysis. On the other hand, using exosomes from mesenchymal stem cells may be the push that stem cells need to become nerve cells in the spinal cord.
Exosomes are tiny packets of cellular material released by stem cells. They contain a variety of potentially beneficial substances; perhaps the most important in cell regeneration is micro RNA (miRNA). miRNA can cause complex changes in cells that simple drugs, proteins, or even regular RNA cannot. Researchers cannot easily deliver miRNA to where it is needed in the body, but exosomes taken from stem cells can deliver miRNA right where it needs to be.
Researchers collected human mesenchymal stem cells and placed them in an environment that would cause them to become nerve cells. But instead of simply using the stem cells directly, they instead collected the exosomes from those stem cells. Those exosomes could then be used to prompt mesenchymal stem cells to become nerve cells. Simply put, the exosomes drove the process more efficiently than the stem cells alone.
What does this all mean? Exosomes taken from the mesenchymal stem cells could eventually be used to treat spinal cord injury. Those special exosomes would magnify the nerve cell-creating effect, perhaps restoring nerve cell function to a damaged spinal cord. Considerable research needs to be done before this possibility becomes a clinical reality, but this knowledge helps researchers design targeted experiments in the future.
by admin | Oct 18, 2018 | Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy, Studies
A couple of weeks ago, scientists published findings showing that implanting human stem cells that are embedded within the engineered tissue can lead to the recovery of sensory perception in rats. The recovery of sensory perception is also accompanied by healing within the spinal cord and the ability to walk independently. The stem cells used in this experiment were collected from the membrane lining the mouth.
These results help demonstrate the potential for stem cells to help with spinal cord injuries but also point to the utility of combining stem cells with other factors to enhance their therapeutic effects. In this case, the researchers used a 3-dimensional scaffold to enable stem cells to attach and to stabilize them in the spinal cord. By adding growth factors, such as human thrombin and fibrinogen to the engineered tissue scaffolding, the researchers also increased the chances that attached stem cells would grow and differentiate.
The researchers compared the effects of their stem cell implants in paraplegic rats with the effects of adding no stem cells. Whereas the control rats who did not receive stem cells did not experience any improvement in mobility or sensation, 42% of the rats that did receive stem cells became better at supporting their weight on their hind limbs and at walking.
While these results are pre-clinical and do not apply directly to humans, the researchers conclude that further research is warranted. Given the positive impact of stem cells on the spinal cord in animals, it is reasonable to assume that stem cells may also benefit the human spinal cord. Further research will help clarify whether these stem cells can be adequately used to help treat patients with paraplegia.
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