Category Archives: Stem Cell Videos

Japanese researchers have been able to improve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease in monkeys by transplanting nerve cells derived from embryonic stem cells into their brains, the team has announced.

The finding is the world's first reported success of its kind with a primate, according to the research team led by associate professor Jun Takahashi of Kyoto University's Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences. It has been released in the online edition of US journal Stem Cells.

After the transplant, the monkeys, which had been almost unable to move, showed improvements in their symptoms to the point where they became able to walk on their own, the team said.

Parkinson's disease is a neurological illness believed to be caused by a deficit of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain.

Embryonic stem cells, which have the potential to become almost any type of tissue, are harvested from inside a blastocyst, which develops from a mammalian egg cell about a week after it is fertilised.

Takahashi's research team used the embryonic stem cells to cultivate a cell mass in which 35 per cent of the cells were dopamine-producing neurons.

These neurons then were transplanted into the four crab-eating monkeys, whose conditions were observed over a one-year period.

According to the study, the monkeys exhibited reduced shaking of their limbs half a year later. They had remained nearly motionless inside their cages all day long before the transplant, but the improvement of their symptoms eventually enabled them to occasionally walk around the cages.

The research team confirmed that normal nerve cells had been created in their brains.

The finding could mark a major breakthrough for applying embryonic stem cells in clinical settings, experts said. The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry has been encouraging researchers to study the clinical applications of not only stem cells, but also induced pluripotent stem cells, which also can grow into many kinds of human cells.

Takahashi's team has already performed experiments to transplant iPS cells into monkeys' brains.

"We'll make further efforts to enhance the safety of these cell transplants," Takahashi said. "And we hope to start clinical application studies as early as three years from now."

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Japanese researchers find stem cells reduce monkeys' Parkinson's symptoms

15-02-2012 13:09 BY ALYSSA CARTEE ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY A breakthrough discovery in stem cell treatments. A patient's own stem cells could actually regenerate the heart after a heart attack. WFLD explains the findings. "The studies found that recent heart attack victims who receive stem cell infusions had a drop in unhealthy heart scar tissue from 24 to 12 percent." The procedure is minimally invasive. A catheter is inserted through the patient's vein and a piece of heart muscle about the size of a peppercorn is removed. That biopsied tissue is then grown in a petri dish and reintroduced to the damaged portion of the heart. This new procedure could change the way heart attacks are treated. ABC reports the typical damage a heart attack leaves and the limited options for treatment. "The damaged scar tissue that results from a heart attack diminishes heart function, which can ultimately lead to enlargement of the heart. At best ... there are measures doctors can try to reduce or compensate for the damage, but in many cases, heart failure ultimately sets in, often requiring mechanical support or a transplant." But the new treatment challenges the conventional wisdom that once the heart is damaged, it can't be repaired. Doctor Sanjay Gupta told CNN this breakthrough in the use of stem cells means a few different things for the medical community. "We've been talking about the promise of stem cells for so long but people have really yet to see it in action. ... It really proved two things. First ...

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Study: Stem Cells Reverse Heart Damage - Video

A Panamanian-led, multidisciplinary research team has published the first description of non-expanded fat stem cells in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis patients. "Autologous Stromal Vascular Fraction Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Rationale and Clinical Safety," which appears in the January publication of the International Archives of Medicine, followed 13 rheumatoid arthritis patients who were treated with their own fat-derived stem cells.

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) February 21, 2012

A Panamanian-led, multidisciplinary research team has published the first description of non-expanded fat stem cells in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis patients. "Autologous Stromal Vascular Fraction Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Rationale and Clinical Safety," which appears in the January publication of the International Archives of Medicine, followed 13 rheumatoid arthritis patients who were treated with their own fat-derived stem cells.

Treating arthritis with fat-derived stem cells has become commonplace in veterinary medicine over the past five years with over 7,000 horses and dogs treated by publication contributor Vet-Stem, a San Diego-based company. The objective of the joint Panamanian-US study was to determine feasibility of translating Vet-Stem's successful animal results into human patients.

Observing no treatment associated adverse reactions after one year, the team concluded that its protocol should be studied further to determine efficacy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Their publication details the rationale for the use of fat derived stem cells in treatment of autoimmune conditions and is freely available at: http://www.intarchmed.com/content/pdf/1755-7682-5-5.pdf

“Key to advancement of any medical protocol is transparent disclosure of rationale, treatment procedures and outcomes to the research community in a peer-reviewed and IRB-compliant manner,” said Dr. Jorge Paz Rodriguez, Medical Director of the Stem Cell Institute and research team leader. “While we have previously published case studies on the use of fat stem cells in multiple sclerosis patients, and one rheumatoid arthritis patient, this is the first time that comprehensive follow-up has been completed for a larger cohort of patients,” he added.

An important distinction that separates this particular approach from those which are being explored by several international investigators is that the fat stem cells were not grown in a laboratory, affording a substantially higher level of safety and protocol practicality.

“This work signifies Panama's emergence into the burgeoning field of translational medicine,” commented Dr. Ruben Berrocal Timmons, the Panamanian Secretary of Science and publication co-author. “We are proud to have attracted and collaborated with internationally-renowned stem cell clinical researchers such as Dr. Michael Murphy and Dr. Keith March from the Indiana University School of Medicine Center for Vascular Biology and Medicine, Dr. Boris Minev from the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, Dr. Chien Shing Chen from Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center and Dr. Bob Harman from Vet-Stem. By leveraging their vast, collective clinical experience with Panamanian scientific infrastructure and know-how, we are striving to develop effective, internationally recognized stem cell procedures that will be accepted the world over.”

The treatment procedure involves a mini-liposuction, collection of the fat's cellular component, processing to obtain a population of cells that includes stem cells, freezing the cells in preparation for quality control, and subsequent re-administration of the cells into patients.

The Panamanian-US group has previously shown that there is a specific type of T cell, called the T regulatory cell, associated with fat stem cells, which is capable of suppressing pathological immunity. Their current theory, which is described in detail in the publication: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20537320, is that the T regulatory component of the fat is capable of slowing down or suppressing the “autoimmune” reaction, while the stem cell component causes formation of new tissue to replace the damaged joints.

About the Stem Cell Institute

Founded in 2006 on the principles of providing unbiased, scientifically-sound treatment options, the Stem Cell Institute has matured into the world’s leading adult stem cell therapy and research center. In close collaboration with universities and physicians world-wide, the institute’s doctors treat carefully selected patients with spinal cord injury, osteoarthritis, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Doctors at The Stem Cell Institute have treated over 1000 patients to-date.

For more information on stem cell therapy:

Stem Cell Institute Web Site: http://www.cellmedicine.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stemcellinstitute

Blogger: http://www.adult-stem-cell-therapy.blogspot.com

Stem Cell Institute

Via Israel & Calle 66

Pacifica Plaza Office #2A

San Francisco, Panama

Republic of Panama

Phone: +1 800 980-STEM (7836) (USA Toll-free) +1 954 636-3390 (from outside USA)

Fax: +1 866 775-3951 (USA Toll-free) +1 775 887-1194 (from outside USA)

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Jay Lenner
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1-800-980-7836
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Panamanian-US Scientific Research Supports Using Fat Stem Cells to Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is the favourite to cook the $A250,000 hamburger made from stem cells.

THINKSTOCK

THE world's first hamburger made with a synthetic meat protein derived from bovine stem cells will be publicly consumed this October after being prepared by a celebrity chef, according to the inventor of the artificial mince.

Heston Blumenthal is the favourite to be asked to cook the $250,000 hamburger, which will be made from 3,000 strips of synthetic meat protein grown in fermentation vats.

Dr Mark Post, of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, said the anonymous backer of his research project had not yet decided who would get to eat the world's most expensive hamburger, which will unveiled at a ceremony in Maastricht.

Dr Post told the American Association for the Advancement of Science that a hamburger made from artificial beef protein was a milestone in the development of novel ways to meet the global demand for meat, which is expected to double by 2050.

"In October we're going to provide a 'proof of concept' showing that with in vitro culture methods that are pretty classical we can make a product out of stem cells that looks like, and hopefully taste like, meat," Dr Post said.

"The target goal is to make a hamburger and for that we need to grow 3,000 pieces of this muscle and a couple of hundred pieces of fat tissue. As long as it's a patty the size of a regular hamburger, I'm happy with it," he said.

A handful of researchers has been working for the past six years on the technical problem of extracting stem cells from bovine muscle, culturing them in the laboratory and turning them into strips of muscle fibres that can be minced together with synthetic fat cells into an edible product.

The technical challenges have included giving the meat a pinkish colour and the right texture for cooking and eating, as well as ensuring that it feels and tastes like real meat.

Dr Post admitted to being nervous about the final result. "I am a little worried, but seeing and tasting is believing," he said.

Although some animals still have to be slaughtered to provide the bovine stem cells, scientists estimate that a million times more meat could be made from the carcass of a single cow, compared with conventional cattle rearing. As well as reducing the number of beef cattle, it would save the land, water and oil currently need to raise cattle for the meat trade, Dr Post said.

"Eventually, my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals that you keep in stock in the world. You basically kill animals and take all the stem cells from them, so you would still need animals for this technology."
One of the economic incentives behind the research is the increasing cost of the grain used to feed much of the world's cattle. This is helping to drive up the cost of meat.

"It comes down to the fact that animals are very inefficient at converting vegetable protein [either grass or grain] into animal protein. Yet meat demand is also going to double in the next 40 years," he said.

"Right now we are using about 70 per cent of all our agricultural capacity to grow meat through livestock. You are going to need alternatives. If we don't do anything, meat will become a luxury food and will become very expensive.

"Livestock also contribute a lot to greenhouse gas emissions, more so than our entire transport system. Livestock produces 39 per cent of the methane, 5 per cent of CO2 and 40 per cent of all the nitrous oxide. Eventually we'll have an 'eco-tax' on meat."

Growing meat in fermentation vats might be better for the environment. And it might be more acceptable to vegetarians and people concerned about the welfare of domestic livestock, Dr Post said. "There are many reasons why people are vegetarian. I've talked to the Dutch vegetarian society, which has said that probably half of its members will eat this meat if it has cost fewer animal lives and requires less intensive farming," Dr Post said. Growing artificial meat would also allow greater control over its makeup. It will be possible, for example, to alter the fat content, or the amount of polyunsaturated fats vs saturated fats, according to Dr Post.

"You can probably make meat healthier," he said. "You can probably trigger these cells to make more polyunsaturated fatty acids, just like grass-fed beef has more polyunsaturates than grain-fed beef. You could make any type of meat, you could make mixed meats. I'm pretty sure you could even make panda meat."

Dr Post declined to reveal who his backer was, except to say that he was well known but not a celebrity - and not British. "It's a very reputable source of money," he said. "He's an individual. There may be two reasons why he wants to remain anonymous: as soon as his name is associated with this technology he will draw the attention to himself and he doesn't really want to do that."

Dr Post added: "And the second reason is that he has the image of whatever he does turns into gold and he is not sure that may be the case here so he doesn't want to be associated with a potential failure."

LAB-GROWN MEAT THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST:
 

Pros

Billions of animals would be spared from suffering in factory farms and slaughterhouses Would reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production, which the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates account for 18 per cent of greenhouse-gas emissions Could reduce by 90 per cent the land- and water-use footprint of meat production, according to Oxford University research, freeing those resources for more efficient forms of food production Would provide a more sustainable way to meet demand from China and India, whose growing appetite for meat is expected to double global meat consumption by 2040 Lab-grown meat could be healthier - free of hormones, antibiotics, bacteria such as salmonella and E.coli, and engineered to contain a lower fat content Would reduce the threat of swine and avian flu outbreaks associated with factory farming

Cons

Consumers may find the notion of lab-grown meat creepy or unnatural - a "Frankenstein food" reminiscent of the Soylent Green at the heart of the 1973 sci-fi film of the same name For some vegetarians, in vitro meat will be unsatisfactory as it perpetuates "meat addiction" - rather than focusing on promoting non-meat alternatives, and changing our meat-heavy diet Although the fat content can be tinkered with, other risks of eating red meat, such as an increased threat of bowel cancer, remain It's not cruelty-free - animals will still have to be slaughtered to provide the bovine stem cells There could be unforeseen health consequences to eating lab-grown meat As a highly processed, "unnatural" foodstuff, lab-grown meat is a step in the wrong direction for "slow-food" advocates, and others who believe the problems in our food system have their origins in the distance between food production and the consumer

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Blumenthal to cook $250,000 burger?

(RTTNews.com) - Researchers have used a patient's own stem cell tissue to help repair damage done as a result of a heart attack.

When a victim suffers a heart attack the damaged muscle is gradually replaced by scar tissue; however, the replacement scar tissue does not function as well as healthy heart muscle placing the victim at risk for higher heart attack incidence.

But, by using stem cells, researchers have been able to replace scar tissue with live, healthy tissue.

The British Heart Foundation says that the new growth was "unprecedented," adding that it could "be great news for heart attack patients."

The study took place as a joint effort between Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and treated 17 heart attack patients.

Within weeks after their heart attacks the patients had 12 to 25 million heart-derived cells returned into their hearts.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

http://www.rttnews.com

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Stem Cells Help Heal Heart Attack Damage

Pet stem cells frozen and banked for future

ORLANDO, Fla. -

Eight Central Florida veterinary clinics are offering up a new procedure that could save or greatly improve a pet's life.

MediVet America has set up a holding center at the company's Nicholasville, Ken., lab to freeze and store pet stem cells for future use.  Clinical studies have shown the cells can be viable for decades.

The procedure extracts stem cells from the animal's own fat tissue. The cells are then treated and used for aging dogs and cats struggling with arthritis or degenerative disease for several years, with good results.

By "cryobanking," the healthy cells, they will be ready if needed in the future.

"Banking stem cells is like having an extra insurance policy for your pet," explained Jeremy Delk, CEO of MediVet America.

Dr. Daniel Evers of ValuVet is taking part in a pet stem cell project in Central Florida to determine if the stem cells are actually causing cartilage regeneration.

Twelve pets will be selected for the study, which will include two separate MRI scans to determine how effective the stem cell treatments are for pets struggling with joint issues.

[SHARE YOUR PHOTOS: Picture-perfect pets]

Normally, the initial cost is $420, with a $150 annual storage fee. Owners whose pets are selected will get a discount on the stem cell procedure. Pet owners interested in the procedure can contact Erica Kent at erica@medivet-america.com or call 386-748-4251.

Copyright 2012 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Pet stem cells frozen, banked for future

Pet stem cells frozen and banked for future

ORLANDO, Fla. -

Eight Central Florida veterinary clinics are offering up a new procedure that could save or greatly improve a pet's life.

MediVet America has set up a holding center at the company's Nicholasville, Ken., lab to freeze and store pet stem cells for future use.  Clinical studies have shown the cells can be viable for decades.

The procedure extracts stem cells from the animal's own fat tissue. The cells are then treated and used for aging dogs and cats struggling with arthritis or degenerative disease for several years, with good results.

By "cryobanking," the healthy cells, they will be ready if needed in the future.

"Banking stem cells is like having an extra insurance policy for your pet," explained Jeremy Delk, CEO of MediVet America.

Dr. Daniel Evers of ValuVet is taking part in a pet stem cell project in Central Florida to determine if the stem cells are actually causing cartilage regeneration.

Twelve pets will be selected for the study, which will include two separate MRI scans to determine how effective the stem cell treatments are for pets struggling with joint issues.

[SHARE YOUR PHOTOS: Picture-perfect pets]

Normally, the initial cost is $420, with a $150 annual storage fee. Owners whose pets are selected will get a discount on the stem cell procedure. Pet owners interested in the procedure can contact Erica Kent at erica@medivet-america.com or call 386-748-4251.

Copyright 2012 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Pet stem cells frozen and banked for future

14-02-2012 08:13 STEM CELLS The dance of life Recent developments in regenerative medicine and modern biology are going to have an enormous impact on our lives. Also the way itself we face the problem of sickness, aging and death changes as the hope (or the illusion?) grows that we always can fight and delay them. Stem cell research is in fact changing our knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms of life and feeding the idea that we can increasingly contrast the cruel natural selection rules which make us fall ill, grow old and die. A new frontier opens and unpredictable changes in our culture are taking place. People's hopes and fears grow at the same time. The general properties of the stem cells is presented, namely the ability to proliferate and, under certain conditions, to differentiate in other types of cells. In this way they can generate a new tissue replacing a damaged one, and also a new organ (like blood, thrachea, liver, heart, skin, cornea and very recently retina). A stamp is shown, which was emitted by the Japanese government to celebrate the discovery of a university team, which was able to regenerate a cornea and giving the opportunity to a patient to see again. Then the innovative results is presented in applications of the stem cells to orthopedy, muscular dystrophy, cardiology and dentistry. Finally the etherogeneus perspectives is presented offered by stem cell research to treat degenerative disorders, like Alzheimer, Parkinson diseases and Multiple Sclerosis. www ...

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Stem cells - ISWA project - Video

16-02-2012 20:19 Many of our patients travel to Guangzhou from all over the world for medical treatment and tourism. China medical tourism can help with becoming a patient, travel arrangements and language assistance. If you want to know more about our services, please browse the web:htttp://www.medicaltourism.hk/ or mail to us: giels-x@medicaltourism.hk firstcare-china@hotmail.com Adult stem cells provide real improvement for cirrhosis patients Breakthrough adult stem cell research has shown that stem cells are able to regenerate and repair damaged or destroyed liver cells. For patients with cirrhosis, this means improved liver function, decreased pain and a significantly improved quality of life. Stem cell therapy offers the safest and most effective treatment alternative for liver cirrhosis and it is quickly becoming a preferred treatment in Asia. China medical tourism offers unique access to the best stem cell therapies available at leading medical facilities. Supporting data and statistics Three out of every four patients treated experienced a significant improvement in their condition following stem cell treatment. The following clinical results were observed: •Improved liver function •Decreased pain •Improved values for liver function, PLT (blood platelet) and blood ammonia You may see improvements during your hospitalization due to neurotrophic factors released during the stem cell transplantation, which stimulate nerve activity; new cells will grow for up to six months after you ...

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China medicdal tourism-- Cirrhosis--Stem cells therapy 1.mp4 - Video

14-02-2012 11:04 CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on a new stem cell therapy that might heal damage after a heart attack.

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Heart stem cells repair muscle damage - Video