New Stem Cell Source

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
Menstrual blood could be a good source of stem cells

Updated Thu. Nov. 15 2007 11:32 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

The blood shed during women's menstrual cycles may provide a new type of stem cell that could develop into many types of human cells, say researchers.

Every month, a fertile woman sheds her uterine lining and then re-grows a new one during the endometrial phase of the menstrual cycle. Scientists have long speculated that something like stem cells must be helping the cells of the uterine lining, or endometrium, re-grow so quickly.

Recent research has indicated that the uterine lining is indeed a rich source of adult stem cells. But there have been questions about how to harvest those cells.

Now, a small, recently published study has found that endometrial stem cells are still present in menstrual blood.

Xiaolong Meng of the Bio-Communications Research Institute, a private research institute in Witchita, Kansas, has led a team who studied cells taken from the menstrual blood of two women.

The team says they found cells that behaved very much like stem cells:
  • They replicated themselves easily
  • They were able to differentiate themselves into many different cell types under the right conditions
  • They showed characteristic cell surfaces of stem cells.
The team found that the cells doubled about every 19.4 hours, proliferating more rapidly than the stem cells harvested from umbilical cords, called mesenchymal cells.
The researchers were also able to develop menstrual blood cells into at least nine different cells, including heart, liver and lung cells."
The researchers conclude that the cells -- which they are calling endometrial regenerative cells -- could be cultured at a large scale and hold many potential uses.
"We have many problems with our current methods of stem cell therapy, like those taken from bone marrow. They may be rejected by the recipient and/or have limited potential to generate new tissue," said Meng.
"Now we've found a possible new way to overcome these difficulties by using cells from menstrual blood."

The findings are published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

Although the potential therapeutic uses for menstrual stem cells are unclear, a U.S.-based company has already launched a service to allow women to collect and cryopreserve their menstrual blood.

The website for the service, called C'elle, says menstrual stem cells have the potential of providing women "with a broad range of personalized regenerative medicine."
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
Maybe I should have posted this thread in Wreck Beach, because I can't help but think ludicrous thoughts about what this information will mean for women in the future. How big a 'sample' would be needed to do anything useful with it? How on earth would you reasonably collect a large sample? I have images in my head of monthly 'spa weeks' where women spend their entire period hooked up to hoses extracting their now valuable menstrual blood.

And what of men? Men don't menstruate, so will we be able to do anything for them if they need stem cells? Will it still be as risky as trying to match marrow donors?

Round and round the questions fly, and I truly hope that this research carries forward and isn't just another flash in the pan like so many other stem cell 'breakthroughs', so that perhaps I get some of my answers!
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
This particular breakthrough excites me because there should be little or no moral quandry about it.

(and it sounds immensely cheaper than the way they do it in the article I just read from you. lol)
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
It strikes me as funny that something that's probably been overlooked and thrown away for so long might be the source of an answer to the dilemma.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
I wonder who first thought of it. I mean, when you consider that cord blood's been used in this research, it does seem a logical leap. I wonder who put two and two together and how long they've been working on it.
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
15,441
150
63
I dunno. Things always seem so obvious once we learn about them. Sometimes all it takes is a second set of eyes.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
True... like finally seeing one of those stupid magic eye pictures... it seems so blatantly obvious once you see it that you can't figure out how you ever didn't.