Fountain Of Youth Found? Stem Cells Eliminate Wrinkles

September 10, 2012

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

[ Watch the Video ]

People have always been searching for the cosmetic Fountain of Youthgrey hairs are dyed, tummies are tucked, and wrinkles are Botoxed.

According to the Scottish company Pharmacells, these modern day Ponce de Leons may have an exciting development to celebrate as the company is about to start clinical trials of a treatment that uses stem cells derived from a patients own blood to eliminate wrinkles.

The skin has a natural elastic property which comes from cells known as fibroblasts, Athol Haas, the companys chief executive, told the Telegraphs Richard Gray.

The ability of the body to produce this elastic material slows down with age because the number of these fibroblasts decreases, he said. By introducing large numbers of stem cells into the right place, we are increasing the ability of the body to produce this natural material. It will be long lasting, we think at least five years if not longer.

Commercially using stem cells for skin care is actually being done today. However, the stem cells are derived from a sample of the patients fat cells, not their blood. According to Haas, his companys treatment is superior to those that use fat-derived stem cells.

The stem cells in fat are more mature so the quality is not so good, and the numbers of them in it are much smaller, around five or 10 million, Haas explained. We are talking about 500 million, very high quality, pure stem cells and there is definitely a link between dose and efficacy. The more you have, the better it should be.

These pure stem cells and their potential applications were first discovered by American researchers about 10 years ago, and are currently used in hospitals to treat organs in the event of a trauma.

Read more here:
Fountain Of Youth Found? Stem Cells Eliminate Wrinkles