Methodology Matters Greatly in Regenerative Therapies

You can't just throw stem cells or signal proteins to change the behavior of existing cells at injured tissue and expect reliably good results. A great deal of craft and sophistication goes into even the first generation stem cell transplant treatments, and the need for this complexity is demonstrated by the variability of outcomes seen in stem cell trials. The results are all over the map even for treatments that use the same types of cell to spur regeneration the same types of tissues. There are all sorts of factors at work: how the cells are cultured, how they are supported after being delivered into tissues, what signals are provided along with the cells, whether or not the cells are further engineered before being introduced into the patient, and so forth. The same is true for therapies that do not involve cell transplants, but instead deliver signal molecules to attempt to spur native cells to do the work of healing. The research results linked below well illustration of this point, as the scientists demonstrate a selection of methods and combinations of methods for heart regeneration in rats. There are large differences in the outcomes, both in the degree of regeneration of healthy tissue (good) and in the generation of scar tissue rather than healthy tissue (bad). The results demonstrate that small changes in technique that alter the timing of the introduction of supporting molecules can have large effects on cell behavior and the bottom line of healing. In practice...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs