Stem cell treatment for various degenerative diseases and conditions is nominally controversial, but is far more accepted than newspaper stories would have the general public believe. The broad category of therapies includes some commonly recognized treatments, such as bone marrow transplants, that are not commonly understood to use stem cells. These are some of the basic facts you should know about stem cells and stem cell treatment options for such conditions as COPD, Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, degenerative joint diseases and more.
What Are Stem Cells?
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can reproduce through cell division for long periods of time. Stem cell treatment options involve creating the conditions for stem cells to mature into specialized cell types, such as muscle cells, bone cells, nerve cells, etc.
Where Do Stem Cells Come From?
Everybody has stem cells in their bodies – they’re necessary for our survival. These adult stem cells renew and repair different parts of our bodies. Skin stem cells, for example, renew and repair the skin. These adult stem cells are unspecialized cells found in a tissue or organ that can yield all of the specialized types of cells needed for that tissue or organ. The term “Adult” stem cells refers to the maturity of the cell itself – they are not found only in adults. Children and babies have them, too. Another term that is not quite as confusing is “multipotent stem cells.” Multipotent stem cells generally only generate the cell types in the organ from which they come, but some studies suggest that adult stem cells may, under some conditions, be able to yield other tissue cell types as well. Multipotent stem cells are also found in umbilical cord blood.
Pluripotent stem cells have the potential to generate the cell types for any organ or tissue in the body. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent.
What Types of Stem Cell Treatment Are There?
Researchers are exploring two main avenues for stem cell treatment: growing replacement parts and developing drug therapies. Many diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, may be improved through stem cell treatment if the stem cells can be delivered to the appropriate place in the body and be induced to become the necessary cell types for renewal and rejuvenation. To develop drug therapies, researchers use stem cells to generate the type of cell that is affected by a particular disease and use those cells to test drugs that may block progression or improve the disease.
Stem cell treatment offers an alternative treatment for diseases and provides hope for improvement and cure in some of the most intransigent and destructive diseases in today’s society. Learn more about the various options for stem cell treatment to find out just how helpful stem cells can be in combating disease.