Menstrual Blood - Embracing Prospects of Futuristic Regenerative Medicine

Women create life; but now they will contribute medically to save lives through the Endometrial Regenerative Cells (ERC) or stem cells harvested from discarded menstrual fluid - known to be the most disgusting phase of woman's life. Menstrual blood, as researchers say, is found to be the most potent source of stem cells so far.

Discovering curative power of stem cells has been a revolutionary breakthrough in the field of surgery and medicine till date, which has actually given many - the precious gift of life.

It is the most miraculous thing that happened to mankind, given that anyone of us, anywhere could contract a life-threatening condition following hectic and demanding lifestyles we are leading today.

Stem Cells - exhibiting life
Stem cells can be termed as undifferentiated cells having distinctive ability to divide mitotically and differentiate into nerve cells, blood cells, muscle cells or any specialized cell when needed.

For a basic introduction to stem cells, sources and medical uses, please read this link: www.themedguru.com/articles/a_new_hope_for_life_stem_cells-86119860.html

Limitations of conventional cell sources
Stem cells harvested from the customary sources- embryos or adult tissues, have their own set of limitations. Embryonic stem cells can build any cell type required but has serious ethical and host rejection issues associated with it because the harvesting process destroys the fetus involved.

Bone marrow harvesting is an invasive and tedious procedure that yields very small quantity of regenerative cells whose powers are limited as is the case with umbilical corddefine blood cells, though it has no ethical concerns. Some researchers are trying to use skin cells to derive stem cells, where the procedure takes help of few viruses to embed number of genesdefine. One of these genes is known to be cancerous.

Stem cells from these conventional sources have been employed to treat blood-related disorders including leukemia. But ERC will help in devising treatments of numerous diseases such as cardiacdefine disease, diabetes, neurological disorders like spinal cord injury, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases and also, assisting aesthetics-related anti-aging therapies.

Regenerative medicine redefined
The uterine endometriumdefine lining, a rich source of stem cells, is shed in menstrual process every month. In the rebuilding process that ranges over seven days, billions of cells develop creating almost 5 millimetre-thick lining. These self-renewing cells, also called Endometrial Regenerative Cells, can be developed into other tissues under controlled laboratory conditions. These cells possess multipotent markers similar to stem cells from other sources.

These Endometrial stem cells were first discovered by an Australian researcher Caroline Gargett from Monash University. She was enthralled to find that a sanitary waste could be so resourceful, citing her findings as "very interesting and very significant". She found the cells exhibiting characteristics similar to adult stem cells.

Medistem Laboratories, a biotechnology company in Arizona, boasts a team of researchers including its chief of scientific development Thomas Ichim, who have worked on ERC and their findings are stated in the Journal of Translational Medicine. Medistem plans to sponsor study series focusing on development of ERC for medical treatments.

Advantages of Endometrial Regenerative Cells
Stem cells from menstrual blood are easier to collect through a harmless procedure. An inexpensive source, it is not painful to the donor women and can be collected for about 35 years of a woman's menstruating age. However, younger women yield better quality of endometrial progenitor cells.

Moreover, it takes care of ethical concerns as linked to the embryonic source and there is no fear of tissue rejection too. With multitude of benefits associated with these newly discovered stem cells, potential treatments could be devised for several medical conditions.

The ERC's can be processed and preserved effortlessly for future implementation. Researchers say that these cells have a higher reproduction rate, doubling every 19.4 hours, compared to the elemental cells from other sources. Compared to bone marrow, menstrual blood yields almost 30 times more stem cells.

These "pluri-potent" cells can develop into cardiac, hepatic, pleural, respiratory epithelial, adipocytic, osteogenic, pancreatic, and neurocytic cells, i.e. roughly nine cell categories, so far the highest known for any stem cell source.

This implies that many medical conditions that have no cure till date, may find a new therapy though this regenerative medium. Host rejection is not a trouble with the ERC's because they possess an immune systemdefine suppressing effect, enabling many patients other than the donor to accept curative therapies.

Banking the ERC
Florida-based Cryo-Cell International, known to be the biggest cord blood bank, also claims to have found stem cells in menstrual fluid. Chief scientist at Cryo-Cell, Julie Allickson described the cells as "highly proliferative which can differentiate into at least five separate lineages and express stem cell markers."

"C'Elle" - Cryo-Cell's menstrual blood-banking initiative takes care of sample-collection, processing and storing cells. More information on the service can be obtained from its website - www.celle.com. In India, LifeCell International at Bangalore will soon launch this service.

Giving life a definite hope
With thorough advancements going on, medical fraternity is sure that the future of regenerative medicine has arrived. While more in-depth researches are required to establish medical employment of endometrial stem cells, the new finding is definitely a momentous achievement in the field of stem cell transplant.

Menstruation is really not bad at all - ERC brings along a promising step in the realm of regenerative medicine and surgery, to give life a new lease.