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 ills or the greatest misconception of the best minds of medical science? Experiments with 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, was 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's 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, we get 2 small "dachshunds", 100% identical to their "mom-zygote".In another one and a half day, the "daughters" are again divided in 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 in the nuclei transcription is not performed, 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 what nature, hands, legs or heart and liver will mold out of it, 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 restoring tissues 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?

Shortly they are 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, malignant tumors appeared. 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 an abortion if the fetus is not more than 12 weeks old. At this time, the original stem cells or blastomeres have already decided on 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 stem cell arthrosis is based. In Russia, this method is currently undergoing a test phase, since 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 undergo an expensive additional examination and preparation on special equipment. The second problem in their use is a legal issue, which must be agreed upon.

Postnatal stem cells or Pskov

The term "postnatal" means "after birth," that is, throughout the life of the individual. It is believed that at this stage there are 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 CPM 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 laboratories in special apparatus they activate, grow up to the necessary quantity and again introduce them to the host. In his body, stem cells are sent to the injured organ, where a recovery process begins. There are two problems with the method:

1. It is never known to be true, it will detach the immune system of its native stem cells or an adductor.

2. No one knows exactly what happens to 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 ESCs 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, the following types of cells are distinguished:

- hemopoietic, or GSK;

-multipotent mesenchymal stromal, or MMSC;

- tissue-specific;

- cells from umbilical cord blood.

All GC cells, erythrocytes, platelets and other blood cells are obtained from HSC.

The role of tissue-specific progenitor( precursor) 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.

Opportunities of non-surgical treatment of joints

It is established that MMSCs as a result of further divisions become osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes. Studies in this direction orthopedists-traumatologists have glorified the Russian city of 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. Stem cells were taken from the fat 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, as it is necessary to conduct additional tests and see how the patients under test will be in two years' time. 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 engrafting 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

Statistically, more than half of the world's population has to some extent affected the ailment of arthrosis joints. MMCK stem cells, perhaps thousands of people will present the happiness of painless easy movement, many of them will get their work back. 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 a transplant, which includes umbilical 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 incurable diseases in children, for example, leukemia, sarcoma, brain cancer. We are now following how stem cells of cord blood behave when they are administered to people 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 stem cells of red or Amur grape. The Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 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 derived from grapes not only help to smooth out wrinkles and remove the flabbiness of the skin, but also perfectly moisturize it, make it soft, tender, protected. Women who have tried "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;

- removes irritation.

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

Stem cell medication by yourself

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 an employee of the Moscow State University. Lomonosov E. Rodimina, goes only for 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 facial skin.

Raw material can serve as a kidney and young grape shoots, but it is best to cut cuttings from grape bushes and increase callus. To do this, the twigs are put into the water for a day or two, after which they are removed, 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 slide( table) pour a pile( 100 g) of vodka and press for 7 days. Kidneys and sprouts of grapes should be folded into containers and poured with vodka. 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 to the teas, juices.

Reviews of specialists

Huge agiotage is causing worldwide stem cells. The medical experts' comments about their use are very contradictory.

Positive results:

-Harvard scientists 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 grown from the SC tissue of the sex cells, kidneys and adrenal glands;

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

Negative results:

- independent studies by US and Spanish scientists found that both ESC and UCS, when they are out of their environment for a long time before being injected into the body, cause malignant tumors;

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