As we age our body ages as well. Degeneration of cell, tissue and organ functions are taking place while we age. There are several conditions of our body that are undergoing changes unnoticed even for years like gradual loss of bone tissue and reduced resiliency of blood vessels aside from the more obvious physical changes including gray hair, wrinkles and other physiological changes such as social inactivity and decreased sexual functions just to name a few. These conditions slow down our body to perform our regular daily routine.
In recent years, in an effort to find the panacea for all diseases, one possibility that stood out among the rest is the use of stem cell. A stem cell is a biological cell that has the potential to be developed into any type of cell in the body. It can be harvested from different organs of the body, and act as replenishment of adult tissue and repair mechanism of the body.
Day by day, different stories about stem cell therapy are added up from among its rosters of success stories. An octogenarian woman, who used to be a well-known politician and now retired from her political career, has been healed of her lingering chronic disease after undergoing such therapy. According to her she can barely manage to walk without the aid of her cane during her mayhem after her retirement from the limelight and crippled with illness caused by old age. After undergoing stem cell therapy, she can now walk with ease without limping and without her cane. Her youthful look starts to return back and the wrinkles slowly fade away. Her heavily gray hair regains its ebony shade.
She enthusiastically quipped " I was never in search of the fountain of youth, age is not a problem for me". What excites her after undergoing the treatment is the promise of functional years. Human placenta, a vascular organ developed inside the uterus during pregnancy and expelled after birth, were used for her treatment.
All types of stem cells have the same capacity to evolve into other cells. Other types include embryonic, fetal and adult stem cells of which the most common is the bone marrow. Bone marrow derived-stem cells are commonly used for treatment of cancers and blood diseases.
Embryonic type is formed in the blastocyst stage of development of the cells of the embryo, which helps babies grow inside the womb. The capacity of cells to divide for long period and retain their potency to make all cell types within the organism is called pluripotent stem cells for which embryonic type belongs to including the induces pluripotent stem cell (IPS) derived from adult human skin cells.
Fetal type cells are called progenitor cells which are obtained from the tissues of the human fetus.
While stem cell therapy is still in its developmental stage, its viability has started to take shape and promises a better future in the world medical research and treatment of different diseases. More experiments have been introduced to find its complexity and its long-term side effects and other pros and cons pertaining to it.
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