Stem cells - what is it? Their influence on the body

From the memorable summer day of 1909, when the Russian histologist Alexander Maximov introduced the term "stem cells", disputes about them have not ceased. Scientists every year reveal their secrets, which gives rise to new riddles.

So, the stilted cells. What is this - a panacea for all ailments or the greatest misconception of the best minds of medical science? Experiments on animals confirm that with the help of these miracle cells can be treated with malignant tumors, inflammation in the joints, liver, heart, stomach. The list of cities in Russia, where such a progressive method is applied, is supplemented by Orenburg. The stem cells here have been used to treat joints. But there are scientists who very reservedly speak about the use of stem cells at the current level of knowledge about their effect on the body and offer to treat them only those who have no other chance to save their lives.

Stem cells: what is it?

Already, children know that a living organism, whether human, animal or plant, is obtained after the fusion of male and female sex cells. As a result, a zygote is formed. This is a diploid structure that has a complete chromosomal set and gives rise to absolutely any cells. In a simpler language, the zygote is a unique natural creation, from which all parts of living bodies are incomprehensible so far for science. It is clear that a zygote for this must form a lot of cellular structures, so that all organs are enough. In mammals, it begins to divide already a day after its formation. As a result, you get 2 small "dachshunds", 100% identical to their "mom-zygote". In another one and a half day, the "daughters" again divide into two, forming already 4 twin girls - "granddaughters". By the end of the fifth day in the embryo there are about 30 cells, exact copies of the original zygote, only a few times smaller than its size. They are called blastomeres. At this stage, DNA and proteins are actively synthesized in them, but the genome is not yet involved, and the nuclei do not perform transcription, that is, they are still immature. We hope, we have very clearly explained, stem cells, what it is. Exaggerated you can call them just a test, and that from it will mold nature, pens, legs or heart and liver, nobody knows. Stem cells are present in organisms not only at the initial stage of their development, but also when all organs are already fully formed, that is, until the end of life. They are needed for tissue repair after injury, only in older people stem cells are about 50 times smaller than in young ones. All of them have two properties - the ability to self-renew without differentiation and the ability to produce cells highly specialized.

Embryonic stem cells, what is it?

Abbreviated them called ESC. They, as was said above, are formed from the zygote and constitute the cell mass of the embryo at the very first stage of its life. All of them are pluripotent, that is, they can turn into the cage of any organ. An important distinguishing feature of ESC is that they do not yet know how to produce antigens responsible for tissue compatibility. Each of us has an individual set of such antigens, which leads to the non-recognition of donor stem cells by the immune system of the person to whom they are injected. With ESC, this problem is minimal, so they are suggested to be used in therapeutic procedures, for example, to treat joints with stem cells. However, in experimental mice with weakened immunity, to whom ESC were transplanted, the appearance of malignant tumors was observed. So, the exact answer, what happens to the systems of the human body after the introduction of the ESC into its organs, is not yet available. The second disadvantage of embryonic stem cells is that the embryo dies after their seizure, therefore autogenous material can not be obtained, only donor.

Fetal stem cells, or FSK

This material is obtained from parts of the fetus after abortion, if the fetus is not more than 12 weeks. At this time, the original stem cells or blastomeres have already determined their future destiny and have begun differentiation. That is, they have already passed a certain number of divisions. Their second feature is that it is impossible to make any necessary cells from FSK, but only one thing, for example, the tissues of the nervous system, or cardiovascular, or bone-cartilaginous. This is their big advantage, because doctors are already more focused and can use them and reduce the risk of complications. It is on these principles that, for example, the treatment of arthrosis by stem cells is based. In Russia, this method is currently undergoing a test phase, as FGCs have some drawbacks. They consist in the fact that the cells of the fetus can already contain viruses of hepatitis, AIDS, mycoplasma and some others. Therefore, such material must necessarily be subjected to expensive additional examination and training on special equipment. The second problem in their use is a legal issue, which must be agreed upon.

Postnatal stem cells or CPM

The term "postnatal" means "after birth," that is, throughout the life of the individual. It is believed that at this stage there is no qualitative stem cells, but still they are, and even in the elderly, only have low potency (potential). But they can be used with great efficiency and safety, since the PSC are autogenous, and not donor. Taking this as a basis, they began treatment with stem cells in Orenburg and other clinics practicing similar therapy. It consists in the fact that the patient takes his own stem cells from the bone marrow from the bone marrow , in the laboratory in special apparatus they are activated, grown to the required amount and reintroduced to their master. In his body, stem cells are sent to the injured organ, where a recovery process begins. The method has two problems:

1. Never truly known, will reject the immune system of its native stem cells or an adductor.

2. Nobody knows for sure what exactly happens with stem cells extracted from their habitual environment (bone marrow), and how they change during cultivation in the laboratory.

For these reasons, scientists who performed experiments on CTK transplantation with a patient with arthrosis in a city such as Orenburg have not yet given a 100% guarantee. Stem cells, in their opinion, are a fantastic breakthrough in medicine, but they are not fully understood.

Types of postnatal cells

We found out that ESCOs are all universal, that is, they can become anything. FSK are more specific, but they can be used to create different organs in whole systems, for example, in the nervous system. And the PUKs have the smallest patent, that is, the most differentiated. Among them, these types of cells are distinguished:

- Hematopoietic, or HSC;

-multipotent mesenchymal stromal, or MMSC;

- tissue-specific;

- cells from umbilical cord blood.

From HSC all lymphocytes, erythrocytes, platelets and other blood corpuscles are obtained.

The role of tissue-specific progenitor (preceding) stem cells in the replacement in the tissues of the organs of ordinary cells, for various reasons killed. Their distinguishing feature is a strictly fixed number of divisions, due to which they are not always referred to as true stem cells.

The possibilities of non-surgical treatment of joints

It was established that MMSCs, as a result of further divisions, become osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes. Research in this direction orthopedists-traumatologists have glorified the Russian city Orenburg. Treatment of arthrosis with the stem cells of the MMSK they carried out to patients who could no longer walk, so serious in their joints were destruction. The stem cells were taken from the adipose tissue of these patients, then the material was placed under sterile conditions in a special medium, where two weeks of growing the desired type of cells. Before the introduction of the preparation to patients, it was carefully tested for the presence of all possible pathogens. At the moment, everyone who has undergone such treatment feels satisfactory, and signs of arthrosis in them have significantly decreased. But, as the doctors say, it is still far from the final conclusions, since it is necessary to conduct additional tests and see how the patients will be doing in two years. So far, we can only consider the first successful Russian experiment to be the work that Orenburg conducted. Stem cells arthrosis, arthritis, hemarthrosis and other diseases (if confirmed positive results) will be able to "treat" without installing people costly and poorly engrafted endoprostheses, which will save patients from complex and difficult operations. Another way of using MMSC is to differentiate them into myocytes to restore muscle tissue.

Umbilical cord blood

According to statistics, more than half of the world population to one degree or another struck the ailment of arthrosis joints. The stem cells of the MMSK, perhaps thousands of people will present the happiness of painless easy movement, many of them will be returned to work. These MMCs are obtained not only from bone and adipose tissue, but also from umbilical cord blood. Its fence is produced after the birth of the baby and the tying of the umbilical cord. As a result of the material, about 80 ml is obtained. Especially high therapeutic effect is provided by the transplant, which includes the cord blood and bone marrow. In addition to arthrosis, according to doctors, this blood can be used for more than 70 ailments, including cancer. Great hopes are placed by researchers on the possibility of using cord blood for effective care with other incurable diseases in children, for example, leukemia, sarcoma, brain cancer. Now follow, how stem cells of umbilical cord blood behave when they are administered to patients with schizophrenia, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. This material is collected and stored in blood banks. They are public and private.

Plant stem cells

All plants, as they are multicellular systems, also have stem cells that are concentrated in callus, in seedlings, in kidneys, in young shoots. Studies were conducted with ginseng, edelweiss, rose, gardenia and other plants. But the most positive results showed the stem cells of red or Amur grape. In the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences they found out that they help to cure hepatitis, and scientists from Crimea have established that plant, especially grape, stem cells can be used to treat cancer. Of great interest is the substance resveratrol, originally found in French red wine, and then found in grape stem cells. It is a priority assistant in the struggle for youthfulness of the skin and body. This discovery was used by the creators of the anti-aging cream "Libriderm". Stem cells obtained from grapes not only help to smooth wrinkles and remove the flabbiness of the skin, but also perfectly moisturize it, make it soft, tender, protected. Women who have tried the "Libbriderm", singled out from him such advantages:

- a delicate texture;

- easily applied to the body;

- does not cause allergic reactions;

- Moisturizes the skin for almost the whole day;

- relieves irritation.

They did not like the high price in the cream and the absence of significant rejuvenation for a month.

Medicine from stem cells with their own hands

It is believed that stem cells taken from plants are much less dangerous than those taken from humans or animals, since they carry less genetic information and do not have such a powerful, and most importantly, unpredictable impact. However, they, especially when injected with injections, can cause undesirable consequences. But external application, according to the employee of the Moscow State University. Lomonosov E. Rodimina, goes only for the good. He even offers a recipe how to make a cream at home, the stem cells in which will perform the work to improve the condition of the skin of the face.

Raw material can serve as a kidney and young grape shoots, but it is best to cut cuttings from grape bushes and increase their callus. To do this, twigs put in water for a day or two, after which they are taken out, wrapped in a cloth soaked in water (it is possible in a wet newspaper), then in a cellophane bag, and placed in a warm place. Appeared callus must be separated, dried and grinded. Further spoon without a hill (canteen) pour a pile (100 g) of vodka and press for 7 days. Kidneys and sprouts of grapes need to be folded into containers and pour vodka too. The resulting infusion is added to the ready-made low-fat cream, for example, aloe vera and mixed thoroughly. You can take the drug in and out, adding a few drops of tea, juices.

Expert Reviews

Huge excitement is caused worldwide by stem cells. Reviews of doctors about their use are very contradictory.

Positive results:

Scientists from Harvard have discovered a method for producing induced pluripotent SCs that take into account the individual characteristics of organisms;

- Japanese researchers from the UK have grown, fertilized the ovum of mice and got a healthy litter;

- In the Institute of Kyoto, sex cells, kidneys and adrenal glands were grown from the UK;

- in the Maastricht University they created from the UK cows ready-to-eat meat.

Negative results:

- independent studies by US and Spanish scientists have established that both ESC and UCS, when they are long outside their environment before being introduced into the patient, cause malignant tumors;

- Danish scientists have discovered that after 60 divisions in the UK, telomerase is being developed that converts these cells into cancerous cells;

- German professor Stark is sure that the treatment of male potency with stem cells is a charlatanry, since no experiment has shown such an effect.

Conclusion: stem cells store hundreds of secrets, and while treating them are akin to blood transfusion before it was discovered, that it exists in several groups. In the near future, perhaps, stem cells will become a magic medicine "from everything". For this purpose scientists from all over the world work with them.