Stem cell treatment is one of the latest wonders in the modern world of medicine. Even though stem cells have been studied for a long time, only recently have people really understood how they could be used in biomedicine to improve the lives of many patients. Stem cell treatment is arguably one of the most promising treatments because it offers solutions for many diseases previously known to be near impossible to heal. Here are some of the key aspects of stem cells, as well as the stem cell treatment, its application, and the many benefits. This kind of research is always worth a read.
What Are Stem Cells?
Stem cells are often referred to as the body’s master cells. They are the body’s “raw materials” – cells from which all other cells are created. This is why they are of particular interest to the scientists – because, under the right conditions in the body or the laboratory, stem cells can be differentiated to form any kind of given cell, called the daughter cells. These daughter cells (from the main stem cell) eiter become new stem cells if self-renewal is of interest or they become specialized cells through differentiation. Specialized cells have specific functions in the body and some of the common examples are brain cells, bone cells, blood cells, and others. No other cell in the body has this kind of inherent ability to generate new cell types other than the stem cells. Stem cells have been the focus of many researchers around the world, and every day we learn something new about how they work, how they differentiate, and how this differentiation can be controlled to be used for medical purposes. Out of all other bio-related aspects of medicine, stem cells are the most important part.
Why Is There Such An Interest?
As we’ve previously said, stem cells have become the spotlight of biomedical research because they can differentiate into any kind of cell in the body. More specifically, doctors and researchers hope this can help increase the understanding of many diseases and generate healthy cells to replace the said diseased cells. In the first target area – the deeper understanding of how diseases occur – stem cells can be purposefully differentiated into specific cells that can be used as regenerative medicine to repair damaged tissues in people. Secondly, stem cells can be used to create solutions to more severe damages such as spinal cord injuries, diabetes, ALS, Alzheimer’s diseases, heart disease, and many more. These cells have the potential to be grown to become new tissues to use in transplants (tissue engineering) which all fall under regenerative medicine.
How does the treatment work
Generally speaking, stem cell treatments work differently in different situations. However, a uniform protocol starts by drawing the stem cell from the body, placing it in a centrifuge machine that will concentrate the substances of the stem cells that will later be used. The concentrated stem cells are then injected into the affected body part of the patient. The reason why stem cells are concentrated in so they could work uniquely depending on the medical needs of each patient. Some stem cells are concentrated to work as basic cells (unspecialized). In other words – stem cells are taken from one part of the body and used to repair damages in another, not native, part of the body. In contrast, some stem cells are concentrated to have a very specialized function – when specific issues need to be repaired such as cardiac tissue, nerve tissue, or many others.
Proper autologous therapy
While many procedures to help people are quite destructive for the body such as surface, stem cell treatment is anything but. While during surgeries the tissue must be lost for the results to be gained, stem cells on the other hand are very regenerative. This is exactly why many people turn to stem cell treatment – so they could avoid the risks of surgical interventions. Stem cell treatment is relatively new which is why many people wonder does stem cell therapy work even though there have been promising results. Surgery always has a high risk of complications, and there is a high risk of infection. Furthermore, if the procedure fails additional surgeries may be required and the risks associated with anesthesia are also very present, all of which are absent in an average stem cell treatment making it better for your health than surgery. Most importantly, Stem cells are harvested from your own body and redeployed wherever they are needed – they are native and not likely to be rejected by the body’s immune system.
What To Have In Mind
There are many different types of stem cell treatments because there are different types of stem cells that come from different places in the body and thus have different functions. This is exactly why scientists are investigating the different roles of tissue-specific stem cells that they play in healing. However, this is performed with the utmost understanding that these stem cells have specific and limited capabilities. If they are not manipulated in the lab, tissue-specific cells can only generate the types of cells found in the given tissue where they live. If you have a hematopoietic stem cell ( blood-forming) found in bone marrow, they can only regenerate the cells in the blood. This is why it’s highly unlikely that a single cell type can be used to treat various diseases that are unrelated to the given tissue they originated in.
Stem cells are one of the most universal tools that scientists, more specifically bioengineers, can use to help many patients around the world. Stem cells are native to the patients’ body and can differentiate in any kind of cell in the organism, making them the perfect candidate to be studied. This being said, stem cell treatment does receive a lot of attention in the medical and scientific communities and is the subject of much research. Stem cells are unique in their properties, and offer a platform for many different tissue therapies to be developed, making them truly a wonder of modern medicine in terms of usability, availability, versatility, and application.