What is stem cells rejuvenation?

One of the most exciting areas of medical advancement in the 21st Century is stem cells rejuvenation which promises the arrest of certain degenerative diseases and relief of the symptoms of others.

Stem cells can separate into many different cell types and thereby stimulate cell rejuvenation of damaged or diseased cells. Chronic and degenerative conditions like Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular disease, Crohn’s, chronic pain and degenerative joints can all be helped by stem cells rejuvenation. Stem Cells also have the potential to increase the longevity of youth by slowing down the ageing process.

Stem cell therapy is when stem cells are transferred into the body to treat or prevent a disease or condition. The most widely used method of doing this is through a bone marrow transplant. For well over 30 years stem cell rejuvenation has been used to treat people with leukaemia and lymphoma. Growing cells are killed by chemotherapy and stem cell rejuvenation reintroduces healthy and functional stem cells to replace these cells or generate new ones. The new stem cells can also generate an immune response that helps kill cancer cells.

Here are some examples of stem cell rejuvenation therapies currently in use.

• Prochymal is a stem-cell therapy that has been conditionally approved in Canada to help children suffering from the acute graft-vs-host disease who are unresponsive to steroids.
• Five hematopoietic stem-cell products that come from umbilical cord blood have been approved by the FDA to treat blood and immunological diseases.
• Limbal stem cell treatment has been recommended by the European Medicines Agency to treat people who have severe limbal stem cell deficiency.

Stem cell rejuvenation tests are being conducted for diseases where there is brain degeneration like Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer's. There have also been preliminary studies related to cell rejuvenation as a treatment for multiple sclerosis.

Using stem cells for brain rejuvenation after a stroke or a traumatic brain injury is a very real possibility based on the results of clinical tests that have been done. This would indicate that stem cell rejuvenation could be life-changing for people with spinal cord injuries.

This is also very good news for those who are worried about ageing too quickly or who suffer from the physical effects of ageing. Particularly the effects on our brains. As we grow older, it becomes harder to learn new things. We suffer varying degrees of memory loss as our brains, like the rest of our bodies, stiffen up.

Scientists at the Center for Regenerative Therapies of TU Dresden (CRTD) ran tests to see if increasing the number of stem cells in the brain would help in brain rejuvenation and recover cognitive functions that deteriorate during ageing. They discovered it most certainly did. Old mice with more stem cells recovered their ability to navigate and remember it for longer times like younger mice. They were surprised to observe that stem cells rejuvenation in younger mice the impairment of cognitive and memory functions was delayed over the whole course of the mice’s natural life.

Stem cells rejuvenation is a procedure that could change the lives of millions of people enabling them to recover from injuries or suffer less from diseases than ever before. It could also make the ageing process less painful and frustrating.