Stem cells used to 'heal' heart attack scars

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TA wrote on 2012-02-14 08:49

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17012688?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Steady is the march of progress, ey?

I love seeing things like this.
paladin wrote on 2012-02-14 08:52

Slow but steady
Sekwaf wrote on 2012-02-14 10:17

But...we've been using stem cells for a few years for just such things. I watched a video of just such a thing in science.
Hiccup wrote on 2012-02-14 10:23

Immortality just a step away.
Shanghai wrote on 2012-02-14 10:24

Quote from Hiccup;774257:
Immortality just a step away.

Can't necessarily stop your body from aging, though. :v
TA wrote on 2012-02-14 10:25

We've been using stem cells for similar purposes for years, yes. The main point of the article are the results. Namely this part:

Healthy heart muscle appeared to take its place. The study said the cells, "have an unprecedented ability to reduce scar and simultaneously stimulate the regrowth of healthy [heart] tissue".

One of the researchers Dr Eduardo Marban said: "While the primary goal of our study was to verify safety, we also looked for evidence that the treatment might dissolve scar and regrow lost heart muscle.

"This has never been accomplished before, despite a decade of cell therapy trials for patients with heart attacks. Now we have done it.

"The effects are substantial, and surprisingly larger in humans than they were in animal tests."

[QUOTE]These cells have been proven to form heart muscle in a Petri dish but now they seem to be doing the same thing when injected back into the heart as part of an apparently safe procedureâ€

Prof Jeremy Pearson British Heart Foundation
[/QUOTE]
Hiccup wrote on 2012-02-14 10:25

Quote from Shanghai;774262:
Can't necessarily stop your body from aging, though. :v

For now. You can replace healthy cells anywhere in your body, practically. It's a step in that direction.
Shanghai wrote on 2012-02-14 10:27

Quote from Hiccup;774265:
For now. You can replace healthy cells anywhere in your body, practically. It's a step in that direction.

So expensive though... Probably wouldn't be released to the general public for another century or so. Plus, I can't imagine how you would re-grow young and beautiful skin from an old, crinkly, and craggy one. Would it eventually shed off? ._.
Hiccup wrote on 2012-02-14 10:31

Quote from Shanghai;774266:
So expensive though... Probably wouldn't be released to the general public for another century or so. Plus, I can't imagine how you would re-grow young and beautiful skin from an old, crinkly, and craggy one. Would it eventually shed off? ._.

The body adapts to the cells because it's essentially your's, so it fits right into whats already there, even improving functions in your body (ie: healing scar tissues), I wouldn't have the answer to that but I don't see it as being impossible with something similar to stem cells.
TA wrote on 2012-02-14 10:51

Quote from Shanghai;774262:
Can't necessarily stop your body from aging, though. :v

Sure you can.

Ask yourself. Why does the body "age?"

The reason: Metabolism, which is the complex system of homeostatic processes that keep us alive, (only) eventually causes Pathology. Pathology being the complex system of anti-homeostatic processes that kill us. The fact that it only eventually causes Pathology turns out to be very useful.

You aren't going to see anything through Gerontology or Geriatrics. Instead, what is going to happen is an engineering approach that repairs the damage from Metabolism before it causes Pathology.

There are only 7 deadly things, that is, "damage" that goes on to cause Pathology. And we already know how to fix those things, in principle, in mice. So, we can probably develop RMR in about 10 years.

[Image: http://i.minus.com/iSSdQVYgniJYh.png]
ValkyrieHamster wrote on 2012-02-15 03:58

Yet another reason why Stem cell research is important to further developments in medical research.

Also: Great post TA, you just explained in one post what some papers can't do with thousands of words.