The following article appeared in the New York Times:
Whatever your age, your body is many years younger.
In fact, even if you're middle aged, most of you may be just 10 years old or less.
This heartening truth, which arises from the fact that most of the body's tissues are under constant renewal, has been underlined by a novel method of estimating the age of human cells. Its inventor, Jonas Frisen, believes the average age of all the cells in an adult's body may turn out to be as young as 7 to 10 years.
But Dr. Frisen, a stem cell biologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, has also discovered a fact that explains why people behave their birth age, not the physical age of their cells: a few of the body's cell types endure from birth to death without renewal, and this special minority includes some or all of the cells of the cerebral cortex.
It was a dispute over whether the cortex ever makes any new cells that got Dr. Frisen looking for a new way of figuring out how old human cells really are. Existing techniques depend on tagging DNA with chemicals but are far from perfect. Wondering if some natural tag might already be in place, Dr. Frisen recalled that the nuclear weapons tested above ground until 1963 had injected a pulse of radioactive carbon 14 into the atmosphere.
Breathed in by plants worldwide and eaten by animals and people, the carbon 14 gets incorporated into the DNA of cells each time the cell divides and the DNA is duplicated.
Most molecules in a cell are constantly being replaced but the DNA is not. All the carbon 14 in a cell's DNA is acquired on the cell's birth date, the day its parent cell divided. Hence the extent of carbon 14 enrichment could be used to figure out the cell's age, Dr. Frisen surmised. In practice, the method has to be performed on tissues, not individual cells, because not enough carbon 14 gets into any single cell to signal its age. Dr. Frisen then worked out a scale for converting carbon 14 enrichment into calendar dates by measuring the carbon 14 incorporated into individual tree rings in Swedish pine trees.
Having validated the method with various tests, he and his colleagues have reported in the July 15 issue of Cell the results of their first tests with a few body tissues. Cells from the muscles of the ribs, taken from people in their late 30's, have an average age of 15.1 years, they say.
The epithelial cells that line the surface of the gut have a rough life and are known by other methods to last only five days. Ignoring these surface cells, the average age of those in the main body of the gut is 15.9 years, Dr. Frisen found.
The Karolinska team then turned to the brain, the renewal of whose cells has been a matter of much contention. Prevailing belief, by and large, is that the brain does not generate new neurons after its structure is complete, except in two specific regions, the olfactory bulb that mediates the sense of smell, and the hippocampus, where initial memories of faces and places are laid down.
This consensus view was challenged a few years ago by Elizabeth Gould of Princeton, who reported finding new neurons in the cerebral cortex, along with the elegant idea that each day's memories might be recorded in the neurons generated that day.
Dr. Frisen's method will enable all regions of the brain to be dated to see if any new neurons are generated. So far he has tested only cells from the visual cortex. He finds these are exactly the same age as the individual, showing that new neurons are not generated after birth in this region of the cerebral cortex, or at least not in significant numbers. Cells of the cerebellum are slightly younger than those of the cortex, which fits with the idea that the cerebellum continues developing after birth.
Another contentious issue is whether the heart generates new muscle cells after birth. The conventional view that it does not has recently been challenged by Dr. Piero Anversa of the New York Medical College in Valhalla. Dr. Frisen has found the heart as a whole is generating new cells, but he has not yet measured the turnover rate of the heart's muscle cells.
Although people may think of their body as a fairly permanent structure, most of it is in a state of constant flux as old cells are discarded and new ones generated in their place. Each kind of tissue has its own turnover time, depending in part on the workload endured by its cells. The cells lining the stomach, as mentioned, last only five days. The red blood cells, bruised and battered after traveling nearly 1,000 miles through the maze of the body's circulatory system, last only 120 days or so on average before being dispatched to their graveyard in the spleen.
The epidermis, or surface layer of the skin, is recycled every two weeks or so. The reason for the quick replacement is that "this is the body's saran wrap, and it can be easily damaged by scratching, solvents, wear and tear," said Elaine Fuchs, an expert on the skin's stem cells at the Rockefeller University.
As for the liver, the detoxifier of all the natural plant poisons and drugs that pass a person's lips, its life on the chemical-warfare front is quite short. An adult human liver probably has a turnover time of 300 to 500 days, said Markus Grompe, an expert on the liver's stem cells at the Oregon Health & Science University.
Other tissues have lifetimes measured in years, not days, but are still far from permanent. Even the bones endure nonstop makeover. The entire human skeleton is thought to be replaced every 10 years or so in adults, as twin construction crews of bone-dissolving and bone-rebuilding cells combine to remodel it.
Original article
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Blood Circulation Enhancer
Improve your overall health with
StemFLO® and StemEnhance®
Our circulatory system not only carries red blood cells and immune cells, it is also the transport network for the most important component to our body’s natural renewal system, our own adult stem cells.
Scientific studies have shown that a greater number of circulating adult stem cells in the body is associated with better health.
1. StemEnhance® was shown in a double-blind study to support the natural release of stem cells from the bone marrow.
2. However, if circulation and stem cell access to tissues and organs is reduced due to any of the factors discussed, the ability of the stem cells to do their job is compromised.
StemFLO® is therefore a perfect complement to StemEnhance®. By supporting optimal circulation, StemFLO® increases the ability of stem cells to reach their destinations. By taking StemFLO® and StemEnhance® daily, you are helping to safeguard your body’s ability to maintain maximum renewal efficiency.
Your Health, Your Choice.
With so many deterrents to our ability to stay healthy and active, doesn’t it make sense to do everything you can to maintain your body at its best? By making a choice to incorporate StemFlo® and StemEnhance® as part of your wellness program, you will be taking a giant step forward to improving your body’s ability to help itself. For more information or to order StemFLO®, here is the link:
Blood Circulation Enhancer
Scientist and author Christian Drapeau explains how the Stem Cell enhancers function to maximize human performance: "Supporting the release of stem cells from the bone marrow and increasing the number of circulating stem cells improves various aspects of human health."
StemFlo
Quick Order Link:
StemFLO® and StemEnhance®
Our circulatory system not only carries red blood cells and immune cells, it is also the transport network for the most important component to our body’s natural renewal system, our own adult stem cells.
Scientific studies have shown that a greater number of circulating adult stem cells in the body is associated with better health.
1. StemEnhance® was shown in a double-blind study to support the natural release of stem cells from the bone marrow.
2. However, if circulation and stem cell access to tissues and organs is reduced due to any of the factors discussed, the ability of the stem cells to do their job is compromised.
StemFLO® is therefore a perfect complement to StemEnhance®. By supporting optimal circulation, StemFLO® increases the ability of stem cells to reach their destinations. By taking StemFLO® and StemEnhance® daily, you are helping to safeguard your body’s ability to maintain maximum renewal efficiency.
Your Health, Your Choice.
With so many deterrents to our ability to stay healthy and active, doesn’t it make sense to do everything you can to maintain your body at its best? By making a choice to incorporate StemFlo® and StemEnhance® as part of your wellness program, you will be taking a giant step forward to improving your body’s ability to help itself. For more information or to order StemFLO®, here is the link:
Blood Circulation Enhancer
Scientist and author Christian Drapeau explains how the Stem Cell enhancers function to maximize human performance: "Supporting the release of stem cells from the bone marrow and increasing the number of circulating stem cells improves various aspects of human health."
StemFlo
Quick Order Link:
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Stem cell therapy 'first' in trial on arthritic knees
Bone marrow stem cell
Stem cell therapy is a less invasive treatment than joint replacement
A stem cell therapy for osteoarthritis is to be tested on patients in the UK for the first time.
A year-long trial, funded by Arthritis Research UK, will mix stem cells with cartilage cells in the lab and inject them back into damaged knee joints.
The new treatment could be an alternative to joint replacement surgery, experts hope.
Scientists from Keele University will study up to 70 people from the end of this year.
The trial will be run at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire as part of a five-year research programme.
Three treatments are being tested in a randomised trial of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.
Cell therapy
Using keyhole surgery, a patient's cartilage cells - also known as chondrocytes - and bone marrow stem cells will be removed and grown in a laboratory for three weeks.
They will then be re-implanted separately in some patients, and mixed together in other patients, into the area of damaged or worn cartilage.
Scientists will then test the effectiveness of all three types of cell therapy, based on the quality of the new cartilage formed over a period of 12 months.
Chondrocytes - cartilage cells - have been grown in a lab and re-injected into patients' damaged knees for the last 15 years.
But scientists now want to find out if combining cartilage cells and stem cells in the same process could work better, and specifically if one type of cell stimulates the other.
The condition is caused by wear and tear to the surface of joints, leading to stiffness and pain.
At present there is little effective treatment for osteoarthritis patients, apart from pain-relieving drugs and joint replacement.
The trial will focus on knee joints, but the results could have implications for other joints, say the scientists.
The advantage of stem cell treatment is that it's much less invasive than major joint replacement surgery.
Sally Roberts, professor of orthopaedic research at Keele University and lead scientist on the trial, says it's also a more "biological approach".
"We are using the body's own cells to repair damaged joints. The hope is that it will be permanent and long-term repair," she said.
But, even if successful, the treatment won't be used on everyone with osteoarthritis.
"Surgeons don't want to put implants into young patients in their 30s, so we are targeting these people for the use of this cell therapy if we can produce robust new cartilage cells.
"Stem cells certainly have huge potential - we just need to learn how to harness it properly," she added.
Jane Tadman, spokesperson for Arthritis Research UK, said: "This is just the start of developing this technique, and it could be a few years before such treatment will be in routine use."
"We are using the body's own cells to repair damaged joints. The hope is that it will be permanent and long-term”
Professor Sally Roberts, Keele University
Original story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10613540
Stem cell therapy is a less invasive treatment than joint replacement
A stem cell therapy for osteoarthritis is to be tested on patients in the UK for the first time.
A year-long trial, funded by Arthritis Research UK, will mix stem cells with cartilage cells in the lab and inject them back into damaged knee joints.
The new treatment could be an alternative to joint replacement surgery, experts hope.
Scientists from Keele University will study up to 70 people from the end of this year.
The trial will be run at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire as part of a five-year research programme.
Three treatments are being tested in a randomised trial of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.
Cell therapy
Using keyhole surgery, a patient's cartilage cells - also known as chondrocytes - and bone marrow stem cells will be removed and grown in a laboratory for three weeks.
They will then be re-implanted separately in some patients, and mixed together in other patients, into the area of damaged or worn cartilage.
Scientists will then test the effectiveness of all three types of cell therapy, based on the quality of the new cartilage formed over a period of 12 months.
Chondrocytes - cartilage cells - have been grown in a lab and re-injected into patients' damaged knees for the last 15 years.
But scientists now want to find out if combining cartilage cells and stem cells in the same process could work better, and specifically if one type of cell stimulates the other.
The condition is caused by wear and tear to the surface of joints, leading to stiffness and pain.
At present there is little effective treatment for osteoarthritis patients, apart from pain-relieving drugs and joint replacement.
The trial will focus on knee joints, but the results could have implications for other joints, say the scientists.
The advantage of stem cell treatment is that it's much less invasive than major joint replacement surgery.
Sally Roberts, professor of orthopaedic research at Keele University and lead scientist on the trial, says it's also a more "biological approach".
"We are using the body's own cells to repair damaged joints. The hope is that it will be permanent and long-term repair," she said.
But, even if successful, the treatment won't be used on everyone with osteoarthritis.
"Surgeons don't want to put implants into young patients in their 30s, so we are targeting these people for the use of this cell therapy if we can produce robust new cartilage cells.
"Stem cells certainly have huge potential - we just need to learn how to harness it properly," she added.
Jane Tadman, spokesperson for Arthritis Research UK, said: "This is just the start of developing this technique, and it could be a few years before such treatment will be in routine use."
"We are using the body's own cells to repair damaged joints. The hope is that it will be permanent and long-term”
Professor Sally Roberts, Keele University
Original story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10613540
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Stem cell method put to the test in Parkinson's study
Dopamine neurons generated from human stem cells Scientists hope to better understand how Parkinson's develops
UK researchers are launching a study into the potential of using a person's stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease.
A Oxford University team will use adult stem cells, which have the ability to become any cell in the human body - to examine the neurological condition.
Skin cells will be used to grow the brain neurons that die in Parkinson's, a conference will hear.
The research will not involve the destruction of human embryos.
Induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells were developed in 2007.
At the time, scientists said it had the potential to offer many of the advantages of embryonic stem cells without any of the ethical downsides.
Three years on, it seems to be living up to that claim.
Compare and contrast
The team at Oxford University is among the first in the world to use IPS to carry out a large scale clinical investigation of Parkinson's, which is currently poorly understood.
Advertisement
Kieran Breen from Parkinson's UK explains how the study works
Researchers will be taking skin cells from 1,000 patients with early stage Parkinson's and turning them into nerve cells carrying the disease to learn more about the brain disorder, the UK National Stem Cell Network annual science meeting will hear.
The technique is useful because it is difficult to obtain samples of diseased nerve tissue from patient biopsies.
IPS enables the researchers to create limitless quantities of nerve cells to use in experiments and to test new drugs.
"Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the UK and is set to become increasingly common as we live longer," said Dr Richard Wade-Martins, head of the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre.
"Once we have neurons from patients we can compare the functioning of cells taken from patients with the disease and those without to better understand why dopamine neurons die in patients with Parkinson's."
The research is being funded by Parkinson's UK.
The charity's director of research, Kieran Breen, described it as "vital research that will help us better understand the causes of this devastating condition and how it develops and progresses.
"We hope the work will pave the way for new and better treatments for people with Parkinson's in the future."
About 120,000 people in the UK are living with Parkinson's.
Original story:
UK researchers are launching a study into the potential of using a person's stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease.
A Oxford University team will use adult stem cells, which have the ability to become any cell in the human body - to examine the neurological condition.
Skin cells will be used to grow the brain neurons that die in Parkinson's, a conference will hear.
The research will not involve the destruction of human embryos.
Induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells were developed in 2007.
At the time, scientists said it had the potential to offer many of the advantages of embryonic stem cells without any of the ethical downsides.
Three years on, it seems to be living up to that claim.
Compare and contrast
The team at Oxford University is among the first in the world to use IPS to carry out a large scale clinical investigation of Parkinson's, which is currently poorly understood.
Advertisement
Kieran Breen from Parkinson's UK explains how the study works
Researchers will be taking skin cells from 1,000 patients with early stage Parkinson's and turning them into nerve cells carrying the disease to learn more about the brain disorder, the UK National Stem Cell Network annual science meeting will hear.
The technique is useful because it is difficult to obtain samples of diseased nerve tissue from patient biopsies.
IPS enables the researchers to create limitless quantities of nerve cells to use in experiments and to test new drugs.
"Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the UK and is set to become increasingly common as we live longer," said Dr Richard Wade-Martins, head of the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre.
"Once we have neurons from patients we can compare the functioning of cells taken from patients with the disease and those without to better understand why dopamine neurons die in patients with Parkinson's."
The research is being funded by Parkinson's UK.
The charity's director of research, Kieran Breen, described it as "vital research that will help us better understand the causes of this devastating condition and how it develops and progresses.
"We hope the work will pave the way for new and better treatments for people with Parkinson's in the future."
About 120,000 people in the UK are living with Parkinson's.
Original story:
Sunday, July 4, 2010
What is Stemenhance?
StemEnhance is the very first product on the market from the product category called “stem cell enhancers” - products that support your natural stem cell physiology. It consists of a patented natural 5:1 concentrate of an edible aquatic botanical known as Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA) that contains two proprietary components, Migratose® and Mobilin™.
What are stem cell enhancers?
Recent scientific developments have revealed that stem cells derived from the bone marrow, travel throughout the body, and act to support optimal organ and tissue function. Stem cell enhancers are products that support the natural role of adult stem cells.
Why do I need this product?
As you age, the number and quality of stem cells that circulate in your body gradually decrease, leaving your body more susceptible to injury and other age-related health challenges.
Just as antioxidants are important to protect your cells from “free radical” damage, stem cell enhancers are equally important to support your stem cells in maintaining proper organ and tissue functioning in your body.
How does it work?
When you take two capsules, the ingredients help to support the release of stem cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream. Through a natural process, those stem cells then travel to areas of the body where they are most needed.
Read More:
What are stem cell enhancers?
Recent scientific developments have revealed that stem cells derived from the bone marrow, travel throughout the body, and act to support optimal organ and tissue function. Stem cell enhancers are products that support the natural role of adult stem cells.
Why do I need this product?
As you age, the number and quality of stem cells that circulate in your body gradually decrease, leaving your body more susceptible to injury and other age-related health challenges.
Just as antioxidants are important to protect your cells from “free radical” damage, stem cell enhancers are equally important to support your stem cells in maintaining proper organ and tissue functioning in your body.
How does it work?
When you take two capsules, the ingredients help to support the release of stem cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream. Through a natural process, those stem cells then travel to areas of the body where they are most needed.
Read More:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
