A Research Study On Regenerative Medicine

Many of us have all heard the saying that a “lizard can lose its tail,” and bizarrely enough it will grow back. This was always considered impossible for humans, an idea belonging in the realm of science fiction, but now the regeneration of tissue is an extremely realistic possibility. Despite some opinions, this process does not happen naturally, or take place as cinematically as one might imagine. Over the past decade, there have been major advances in regenerative medicine, commonly known as stem cell research. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells within the body that have the capability to specialize into any tissue. They are most commonly found in cord blood, bone marrow, organ donations, placenta, and embryos . Stem cells are seen by some as a new miracle treatment, encouraging many countries to invest in their research.

The recovery period after large scale injuries could be shortened. The effects are analyzed in an article that states, “True healing could occur thanks to the cloning of their own cells to help the recovery process” (“Pros and Cons” 5). Basically, the process of cloning healthy cells could be used as an aid in replenishing damage of unhealthy cells. This process, if it were to be actualized, could help recovery progress in anything from pulled muscles to the paralysis of an entire limb. In theory, the same research can be applied in other areas. If this technology is paired with stem cell research, it could result in a method of repairing physical damage. An article that focused on advances in biotechnology stated that “Another use of cloned stem cells could be the growth of replacement tissues in the laboratory” (LaPensee 15). Necrosis, apoptosis, and lymphocyte diapedesis all cause tissue damage or death. These tissues could be replaced by cloned cells of healthy tissues. This shortens recovery periods and leads to healthier tissue growth.

Researchers successfully attained embryonic stem cells from the embryos of mice in 1981, which led to the discovery of this process in human beings in 1998 (National Institutes of Health, 2001). Embryonic stem cells are derived from an in vitro embryo between five days and seven weeks. Regenerative medicine can benefit greatly from the characteristics of embryonic stem cells. This process enables damaged organs and tissues to heal themselves with the help of implanted stem cells matching the organ (Hunziker, 2010, p. 1). There are two traits

Because of stem cells regenerative qualities, many scientists hypothesize that eventually we can use stem cells on a large scale to assist us to regenerate damaged tissue within the body especially when transitioning organ donations, or prosthetics into an individual, ultimately making it a safer practice.

“Through the isolation and manipulation of cells, scientists are finding ways to identify young, regenerating ones that can be used to replace damaged of dead cells in diseased organs. This therapy is similar to the process of organ transplant, only the treatment consists of the transplantation of cells rather than organs. The cells that have shown by far the most promise of supplying diseased organs with healthy cells are called stem cells.” (Chapter Preface)

Despite any potential healing power of stem cells, the moral and logistic issues that surround regenerative medicine needs to be addressed prior to the acceptance of this practice. One major issue that is continually

Regenerative medicine offers the potential to be regenerative rather than merely palliative or symptomatic treatment. This allows therapeutic outcomes that were previously impossible to be achieved. In addition, regenerative medicine offers the prospect of fewer serious side effects than existing products and therapies because it uses existing processes in human biochemistry.

Regenerative medicine is a game-changing area of medicine with the potential to fully heal damaged tissues and organs, offering solutions and hope for people who have conditions that today are beyond repair. Regenerative medicine itself isn't new — the first bone marrow and solid-organ transplants were done decades ago. But advances in developmental and cell biology, immunology, and other fields have unlocked new opportunities to refine existing regenerative therapies and develop novel ones. According to The Center for Regenerative Medicine takes three interrelated approaches. The first approach is the Rejuvenation. Rejuvenation means

stem cell state, just like the way in which iPSC’s are produced, but recent research has shown ways in which adult cell types in general could potentially be reprogrammed to other cell types in the laboratory (5). This means that if this process was perfected, not only will stem cells themselves be able to be reprogrammed, but eventually all cell types in the body. It is evident that this would be a major breakthrough for modern medicine and it is limitless on the impact it would make to current treatment methods and even many diseases and conditions. For example, after a portion of the heart experiences a heart attack, that area is then dead and can not be revived, but if reprogramming could be used on general cell types, this could change fibroblast in the scar tissue present into fully functional cardiac cells, reversing the damage done by the heart attack (4). This would be a major future implication if the process of reprogramming could potentially be mastered in general cell types (5).

The goal of regenerative medicine is to restore function through therapy at levels such as the gene, cell, tissue, or organ. For stem cells, physicians will obtain a patient’s own stem cells by aspirating tissue from the patient’s hip bone or from their fat cells. These cells are centrifuged down to identify and separate specific primitive cells that will help heal tissues (Alessandri et al., 2004). For PRP, a patient’s own blood is used and centrifuged down to obtain healing growth factors and the platelets (Pantou et al., 2012). These are rich in protein to help stimulate healing. Once these products are obtained, doctors are able to re-introduce them into the patient’s injured tissues. Regeneration of tissues and ligaments have accomplished significant improvement in patient outcomes without surgical intervention.

Currently, alternatives, such as mechanical devices and artificial prostheses, don’t repair tissue or organ functions because they are not intended for integrating host tissues, and if these alternatives are used for long-term implantation, the recipient could suffer from an inflammatory response (Chapekar). For illnesses such as end-stage liver disease, the only successful treatment is through transplant, and the odds of receiving a new liver is improbable (Kaihara and Vacanti). Another treatment must be discovered. In 1988, a NSF sponsored meeting defined a new treatment idea called tissue-engineering: the “application of the principles and methods of engineering

Being a branch of bioengineering, regenerative medicine is the process of recreating human cells, tissues, or organ in order to restore normal function. Regrowing organs to replaced damaged or unhealthy ones, regenerating healthy tissue as a replacement to their diseased counterparts, and speeding up the process of organ 's healing themselves are all examples of regenerative medicine. To do this, medical personnel must use stem cells. Stem cells, according to Stewart Sell, are

The human body is full of hundreds of special types of cells that are essential for ones every day health. These special cells are accountable for keeping our bodies going daily for instance making our brains think, hearts beat and, restoring our skin cells as they shed off. Stem cells are the provider for the development of new cells. “Stem cells have the amazing potential to expand into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth” (stemcells,2015). These cells in fact can also work as repair cells in many tissues helping repair cells in any living animal or human. As the stem cells eventually divide they will either remain a stem cell or convert into a

The ability to generate tissues from different cell types could have enormous implications for transplantation. Wilson (1997) anticipates this technology utilizing skin and blood cells, and possibly even neuronal tissue that could then be used in the treatment of "injury, transplants for leukemia, and for

Genetic engineering, the process of using genetic information from the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of cells to fix or improve genetic defects or maladies, has been developing for over twenty years. When Joseph Vacanti, a pediatric surgeon at Children’s Hospital, and Robert Langer, a chemical engineering professor at MIT, first met as researchers in the 1970’s, they had little knowledge of the movement they would help found. After they discovered a method of growing live tissue in the 1980’s, a new science was born, and it races daily towards new discoveries and medical breakthroughs (Arnst and Carey 60). “Tissue engineering offers the promise that failing organs and aging cells no longer be tolerated — they can be rejuvenated or replaced