Adult Marrow Stem Cells Heal Burns Faster than Embryonic

[Wise Young]

http://www.betterhumans.com/News/new...D=2003-10-10-4

Adult Marrow Stem Cells Heal Burns Faster than Embryonic
Gabe Romain
Betterhumans Staff

Friday, October 10, 2003, 4:15:17 PM CT

The burn-damaged skin of rats heals faster when stem cells from their own bone marrow are used for treatment rather than stem cells from embryos.

The finding, by scientists from Russia's Scientific Research Institute of Transplantology and Artificial Organs, could translate into better treatments for burn victims while avoiding controversy over embryonic stem cell use.

While embryonic stem cells have long been considered more potent than adult stem cells, they have proven controversial because extracting them destroys embryos.

Fuelled partly by a search for alternatives, researchers are increasingly finding that adult stem cells are more capable than they once thought.

Burned rats

Using rats, Russian researchers tested the ability of stem cells from various sources to heal burn wounds.

They applied metal plates to the body of forty anaesthetized rats, gradually heated them to 98°C and kept them at this temperature for eight seconds to create a lesion.

Two days later, the rodents were divided into four groups, each comprising 10 animals.

In one group, stem cells from the rats' own marrow were transplanted to the wounds.

In another group, stem cells from another rat's marrow were used.

In a third group, researchers transplanted embryonic fibroblasts taken from pregnant rats to the wounds.

A fourth group received no therapy whatsoever.

Faster healing

The researchers measured healing progress five times a month and took samples of tissue to distinguish a rat's own cells from those that were transplanted.

The rats that received cells from their own marrow-autogenic cells-healed in slightly over a month, making the quickest recovery.

There were poorer results for rats that received transplantation from another animal's marrow cells and five times poorer results for rats that received transplantation of embryonic stem cells.

As expected, the group that received no treatment took the longest to heal.

Growth-stimulating

The researchers think that the marrow cells speed healing better than embryonic cells because they are less specialized and generate more bioactive compounds.

They think that marrow cells produce growth-stimulating enzymes and peptides that accelerate tissue regeneration.

Also, the marrow cells reproduced in culture faster than embryonic cells.