No matter what a person is great: it all started from an egg and sperm. This means that there are cells that have the potential to form an entire human being. These first cells were born from the egg fertilized, cells are called totipotent. After a few days in the womb, forms the so-called blastocyst. The cells contained therein are called embryonic stem cells. They do not yet specialized and have the ability to divide indefinitely and develop into almost 220 different cell types present in the human being at the end, however, from single cells, can no longer be a whole human being. They have lost their totipotency and are called pluripotent then. Once completed the development of the human, these cells become mature originally undifferentiated, have become differentiated cells and have assumed a special function in our body. In this way you have the nerve cells can transmit electrical impulses, the muscle cells that can contract and pancreatic ß cells, capable of producing insulin.
But even in adulthood, the skin regenerates, the wounds heal and hair grows. Until we die, our bodies are still relatively undifferentiated cells still capable of multiplying with a certain frequency and that help the body to heal and regenerate. These cells are called adult stem cells. Adult stem cells have been detected so far in any human tissue, among others, skin, brain, blood, liver and bone marrow.
biological function of adult stem cells
If a human body tissue is damaged, stem cells are activated immediately at the point in question and stimulate the healing process. But even the everyday processes of the human body take place thanks to the functionality of stem cells: our red blood cells and white blood cells only survive 120 to 130 days, after which they too "old" to be able to carry enough oxygen and must be replaced. This task is taken from the hematopoietic cells present in bone marrow and capable of generating blood cells. According to theoretical calculations, every minute are produced about 350 million new red blood cells. But most of the other cells of the body are replaced regularly: liver cells after 10-15 days, the white blood cells after 1 -3 days.
In theory, the human body has consistently provided its own system of "repair". But: why some people get sick yet so hopeless? And why the body ages, but if it comes with the ability to regenerate itself constantly?
limits the regenerative capacity
A current theory has it that adult stem cells are so "call", that is attracted to the site of injury by certain neurotransmitters, while not showing up very often enough, or do not arrive at all due to the occlusion blood vessel. An injury does not heal or heal very slowly at all if the cause of the disease still exists. It may also happen that certain diseases start to run silently, and that the body does not recognize then as a condition requiring a repair.
A further problem is the fact that adult stem cells age. Although they possess a much higher regenerative potential than that of other specialized cells of the body, this potential seems to run out at the latest within 130 years. Consider, for example, that the world's oldest woman currently living in France and well 122 years.
The aging process can not be stopped. Modern medicine, however, can take stem cells from the body, to purify, concentrate, and thereafter to apply them directly on the site of injury. In this way, you get in many cases, a reinforcement of the physiological process of healing.
stem cells from cord blood
Today, many parents require to freeze stem cells from cord blood of their newborn in order to give their children the possibility, in case of a serious disease, to have their own adult stem cells. E ', for that matter, a reasonable choice, since these cells are apparently less differentiated than those in the blood and the bodies of adults have a higher potential of transformation in different cell types. In addition, the fact that these stem cells have an immunological effect are not understood and thus possibly also suitable to be planted on other people. However, there are some limitations to consider. They can cause problems if the donors do not retain or levying stem cells while respecting the international quality standard "Good Manufacturing Practice, or if the stem cells from cord blood are not isolated, but instead proceed to freeze the whole stored blood. In the first case, no hospital will never get permission to use frozen cells, while in the latter case, the stem automatically report the damage as a result of the necessary additives and antifreeze long time to thaw. In both cases, the stored stem cells are almost unusable.
However, there are other things to consider when taking stem cells from cord blood. The predisposition to a disease such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, leukemia or any other form of cancer, may be inherent in their stem, so that the disease could then be retransmitted. Moreover, in the cord blood is only a limited number of stem cells. However, since the therapy requires a minimum number of cells, researchers are working on multiplication of adult stem cells outside the body, such research also involved the XCell-Center. If you arrive at a result, it can be assumed that the use of stem cell storage will soon become a frequent practice. That the exceptional opportunity to take stem cells from cord blood is already profitable overall, it shows a figure supplied by the trade magazine "The Lancet", according to which, since 1989, there were already more than 7,000 transplants performed internationally with stem cells isolated from cord blood.
Federico Cesareo
