by admin | May 14, 2021 | Stem Cell Therapy, Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Stem Cell Research, Traumatic Brain Injury
According to the CDC, in 2019, traumatic brain injury (TBI) contributed to nearly 61,000 deaths in the United States alone[1]. While there are several clinical treatments designed to address the neurological dysfunction after sustaining a TBI, including hyperbaric oxygen, brain stimulation, and behavioral therapy, none appear to produce satisfactory or lasting results.
In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of various stem cells, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), neural stem cells (NSCs), Multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs), and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in the treatment of neurological impairment resulting from TBI. Specific benefits of these stem cells observed throughout these studies demonstrate that exogenous stem cells have the ability to migrate to the site of damaged brain tissue, help to repair damaged tissue, and significantly improve neurological function.
In this article, Zhou et al. review recent findings on the role, effects, deficiencies, and related mechanisms of the various stem cells being used as therapeutic agents in the treatment of TBI.
Examining numerous studies occurring between 2010-17 and exploring various TBI models and the roles of different stem cells in animal models, the author’s general summary is that the use of stem cells demonstrated some form of measurable improvement in every study reviewed. As a reference, specific observed benefits included improved integrity of the blood-brain barrier; improved neurological function, social interaction, and motor performance; enhanced neurovascular repair and recovery; and enhanced cognitive and spatial learning, information retention, and memory retrieval.
The authors point out that although there appears to be a large amount of research exploring the complexity of pathophysiology and the application of stem cell therapy for treating TBI, many problems still exist and must be addressed before the best method for TBI recovery can be determined.
Specifically, while there have been several clinical studies exploring the role of stem cells in the role of TBI treatment and recovery, and while most demonstrate promising results, the studies have almost universally been completed on mice and/or rats, contained human sample sizes that are not large enough, or failed to include a control group. As a result, Zhou et al. call for further study, including multi-center long term follow-up and randomized prospective trials that examine the safety of stem cells, route of injection, the time of injection, and the specific mechanisms as a way to identify the appropriate and effective stem-cell-based therapeutic treatment options for those suffering from various types of TBI.
Source: (2019, August 13). Advance of Stem Cell Treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6700304/
[1] (2021, May 12). Get the Facts About TBI | Concussion …. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html
by admin | May 12, 2021 | Health Awareness
Detoxing has gained plenty of attention in recent years. Based on the principle of reducing your exposure to toxins, this practice aims to promote general wellness, help optimize the immune system, and increase energy levels. There are many ways to detox, some of which include long stints of restrictive eating. Fortunately, the body detoxes itself quite effectively, to begin with. Organs such as the liver, digestive tract, kidneys, and skin eliminate toxins through waste such as sweat, stool, and urine.
With that being said, there are a few things you can do each day to help the body perform detoxification more efficiently. Here are a few options to try.
Minimize Use of Plastic
Plastic is notorious for chemicals such as bisphenol-A (BPA) and bisphenol-s (BPS). Thus, when you place drinks or food in plastic containers, it’s possible these chemicals can leach into them. Whenever possible, choose glass or stainless steel instead, and never heat food in plastic containers.
Wash Your Produce
While organic produce has lower concentrations of dangerous chemicals, any fruits and vegetables can contain trace amounts of pesticides. Over time, these harmful contaminants can build up in the body, potentially leading to health issues like nervous system damage. Reduce your exposure to these chemicals by washing all of your produce thoroughly. As an added bonus, it can help decrease your risk of exposure to foodborne illnesses.
Reduce Alcohol Consumption
Drinking alcohol stresses the liver, one of the body’s main organs responsible for detoxification. Abstaining altogether is one way to prevent the issue, but if you do choose to have a drink, limit it to one if you’re a woman or two if you’re a man. According to the CDC, this can help reduce the risk of long-term health issues, such as high blood pressure and certain types of cancer.
Up Your Fiber Intake
Fiber helps to keep your digestive system running smoothly by absorbing moisture and making waste easier to pass. It can also help you maintain a healthy weight, control cholesterol, and promote healthy blood sugar levels. Get plenty of fiber in your diet by incorporating foods such as beans, carrots, peas, oats, apples, cauliflower, and whole-wheat pasta or bread.
Hydrate Consistently
Like fiber, water aids in flushing the body of waste. It can help pass both urine and stool, promoting the body’s ability to flush toxins and any other unneeded substances. Be sure to drink when you’re thirsty and aim for eight cups of water each day.
Get Plenty of Sleep
Sleep promotes optimal health and can reduce stress on the immune system. Aim to get enough high-quality sleep by establishing a healthy bedtime routine. Stay away from electronics at least an hour before bed, maintain a cool and comfortable sleep environment, and limit caffeine consumption throughout the day.
Eat Detoxifying Foods
Several foods are known for their detoxifying properties. For instance, cruciferous vegetables contain glucoraphanin, which produces an agent that helps the body detoxify. Green tea is also loaded with agents that help the body detoxify, including natural polyphenols. Include these items in your diet regularly to boost your body’s natural detoxification abilities.
By incorporating small changes each day, you can reap the benefits of natural detoxification without the need for long fasts or extreme diets. Over time, these habits can help to power up your body’s detoxifying processes and promote long-term health.
For more health awareness blogs, please visit www.stemedix.com/blog
by admin | May 5, 2021 | Heart Failure, Health Awareness
According to the CDC, nearly one in three U.S. adults is living with hypertension, but just about half of them are controlling it effectively. Also known as high blood pressure, hypertension can be dangerous. It increases the force against the artery walls, and over time can lead to damage of the brain, heart, and kidneys.
Fortunately, there are many steps you can take to control your blood pressure. The first is understanding what’s considered normal versus high blood pressure.
For systolic blood pressure (the upper number), the categories are as follows:
- Normal: <120
- Elevated: 120-129
- Hypertension stage 1: 130-139
- Hypertension stage 2: 140 or higher
- Hypertensive crisis: higher than 180
For diastolic blood pressure (the lower number), the categories are:
- Normal: less than 80
- Elevated: less than 80 (and 120-129 systolic blood pressure)
- Hypertension stage 1: 80-89
- Hypertension stage 2: 90 or higher
- Hypertensive crisis: higher than 120
You can set up an appointment with your doctor’s office to have your blood pressure taken, but sometimes this service is available at pharmacies or even through home kits. Once you know where you stand, you can begin addressing your blood pressure through the following tips:
Reduce Sodium Intake
Salt raises blood pressure in many people, and it can hide in sources you wouldn’t suspect. Frozen foods, canned food, and even some beverages can be high in sodium. Ideally, you should be taking in less than 2,300 milligrams of salt each day, or 1,500 milligrams or less if you’re over the age of 50.
Incorporate Fruits & Vegetables into Your Diet
Fruits and vegetables are inherently nutritious due to their lack of sodium, cholesterol, trans fat, and saturated fat—all of which can contribute to high blood pressure. As an added bonus, they’re typically low in calories, which can help you maintain a healthy weight, and they’re also loaded with key vitamins and minerals.
Get Moving
Exercise can help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight, which contributes to healthy blood pressure. Adults should get at least a half-hour of moderate-intensity exercise each day, such as brisk walking. Children and teens should get an hour. While the risks of high blood pressure can be alarming, there are plenty of ways to get yours under control. Knowing your numbers and having ongoing conversations with your doctor can help you manage your blood pressure proactively.
by Stemedix | May 3, 2021 | Neurodegenerative Diseases, Stem Cell Therapy, Traumatic Brain Injury
In neurodegenerative conditions and cases of brain damage such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), the goal of treatment is usually to manage symptoms and prevent or slow the rate of further damage. Yet, ongoing research suggests stem cells could play an important role in creating new neurons, potentially resulting in repair of central nervous system damage and potentially regrow brain tissue. While the science is still in its infancy, there is evidence to suggest stem cell therapy could help to potentially restore lost brain function.
Just until a couple decades ago, scientists were under the impression that the brain and spinal cord could not rebuild themselves once cells were lost. Yet, in the mid-1990s, neuroscientists discovered that the brain could create new neurons in certain circumstances, which arise from neural stem cells. As undifferentiated cells, the stem cells could give rise to many different brain cell types, including neurons, which carry messages throughout the nervous system.
Further research has supported the idea that neurons can regenerate. For instance, in 2003, research was published which showed improvements in paralyzed rats who were exposed to a virus which caused symptoms similar to that of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Mice that had been previously paralyzed were able to regain some mobility after receiving stem cell injections, and the stem cells took on the characteristics of mature motor neurons.
Researchers have also been exploring stem cell therapies to help treat Parkinson’s disease. The goal is to rebuild the central nervous system through stem cell implantation. While levodopa is the go-to treatment to help regulate dopamine levels which are affected in PD, the drug’s efficacy tends to wear off over time, and its side effects increase. Some researchers have investigated the use of fetal stem cell tissue for PD patients, but lack of standardization and challenges in acquiring donor tissue have been barriers to ongoing research efforts.
With that said, stem cells from umbilical cord blood and adult adipose (fat) or bone marrow can also be coaxed to display many protein markers similar to those found in nervous system cells. It’s unclear whether these cells will ultimately be able to give rise to functioning neurons, but researchers continue to make progress.
Ultimately, there is much left to discover when it comes to the potential role of being able to regrow brain tissue and regenerative therapies such as stem cells in neurodegenerative conditions and brain injury. What we’ve already seen is promising, however. As experts continue to develop a deeper understanding of how stem cells and neurons can work together, patients with these challenging conditions will likely continue to benefit from evolving treatment options. If you would like to learn more then contact a care coordinator today!
by admin | Apr 30, 2021 | Neurodegenerative Diseases, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy
Neurodegenerative disease is a broad term encompassing a number of chronic, progressive diseases that result in degeneration and or death of neurons; these diseases include Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and affect over 50 million Americans each year[1][2].
Since neurons possess a very limited ability to reproduce and/or replace themselves, any damage to these cells tends to be permanent and contributes to incurable and progressive debilitating conditions affecting physical movement and mental function.
While research has determined that these neurodegenerative diseases are primarily a result of the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain, the specific cause of these conditions remains unknown; additionally, the complexity of these conditions often lead to delayed diagnosis, most often a result of the lack of effective and recognizable biomarkers. To date, no preventative treatment for these conditions exist and any current treatment serves to only delay the progression of the disease, most often with poor results.
In this article, Yao et al. explore the viability of using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as cell replacement therapy for treating neurodegenerative diseases. According to the authors, MSCs demonstrated the ability to self-renew and differentiate coupled with their relative ease of collection, isolation, and ability to culture and their immunoregulatory properties make them a promising potential treatment option.
Although the specific therapeutic mechanisms of MSCs in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases are still being studied, they have shown potential in three specific areas: homing, paracrine, and immunoregulation.
Homing involves MSCs ability to spontaneously migrate to damaged regions of the body, making them a viable therapeutic treatment option – especially as a carrier of therapeutic drugs. It is hypothesized that MCS’s ability to home should allow drugs to be attached and to pass through the blood-brain barrier to be delivered to locations in the CNS and brain that are affected by neurodegenerative diseases.
Paracrine, or paracrine signaling, is a cell’s ability to release hormones that communicate with the cells in its vicinity. MSCs ability to secrete growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, and various enzymes are important aspects of cell migration and immune regulation. Animal studies have demonstrated using MSC-derived exosomes to improve symptoms associated with muscle atrophy translates into a promising clinical treatment strategy for neurodegenerative diseases.
MSCs are undifferentiated precursor stem cells with low immunogenicity. Researchers attribute the immunoregulation of MSCs to their various interactions with T cells, B cells, and natural killer cells. Animal studies have shown that placental-derived MSCs have demonstrated beneficial effects, particularly in mice with AD; researchers hypothesize that this effect is a result of these MSCs inhibiting the release of inflammatory cytokines, preventing cognitive impairments, and increasing the survival rate of neurons and nerve regeneration. These findings have demonstrated the potential for immunosuppressants, in combination with MSCS, to be used in future clinical treatments of neurodegenerative diseases.
After reviewing numerous in vitro and in vivo experiments in animal models, the researchers have confirmed the potential therapeutic benefits of MSCs as well as their safety and effectiveness in a wide variety of therapeutic applications. Additionally, studies have also demonstrated no serious or concerning adverse reactions associated with clinical trials (both human and animal) using MSCs from autologous or allogeneic sources.
However, Yao et al. caution that as therapies using MSCs continue to develop, so too should the process used for preparing MSCs as well as that used for determining ideal method and dose for patients; taking these steps will contribute to a deeper understanding of MSCs potential when used as a therapeutic treatment for neurodegenerative diseases.
Source: (2020, July 20). Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Potential … – Karger Publishers. Retrieved from https://www.karger.com/Article/Fulltext/509268
[1] “What? | JPND.” https://www.neurodegenerationresearch.eu/what/.
[2] “Neurodegenerative Diseases: An Overview of … – NCBI – NIH.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1280411/.
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