Stem Cells On the Rag, In the Teeth, and more

Remember when most people thought the only source for stem cells was an embryo? You can certainly get totipotent stem cells from embryos, but it will be some time before researchers can control totipotent stem cells to everyone's satisfaction. Sometimes stem cells from more mature tissues will satisfy a need. It is important to hunt down these stem cell sources so that we can learn how useful those cells can be.

Stem Cell Research Progress Blog does a very good job of following the news in stem cell research. In recent posts, here and here, Anne Leonard discusses alternative sources of stem cells that are being evaluated.

Researchers in Japan have been looking for alternative sources of stem cells which may be of help in promoting the growth of heart muscle tissue. They have found stem cells in menstrual blood and in umbilical cord blood which have the cardiac gene expression and protein expression necessary for repairing muscles (as opposed to blood vessels). The menstrual blood has the additional advantages of being easily obtainable and rich in stem cells.

She goes on to discuss research with stem cells derived from pig fat and human bone marrow. In the second post, she discusses stem cells from teeth:

Two Asian newspapers are reporting that researchers in Japan at Osaka University and National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology’s Research Institute for Cell Engineering used stem cells derived from the germ of human wisdom teeth to repair damaged liver and bones in rats. The story was originally published in the Japanese paper the Daily Yomiuri and reprinted with slight variations on the Chinese site Xinhua. The article reports that the tooth germ can be changed into bone, liver, or nerve cells by stimulating it with hormones, and that the stem cells grow far more quickly than those taken from bone marrow.

Today's Stem Cell Research reports on umbilical cord blood stem cell extraction and isolation, and offers a video. Here is a report on spinal cord regeneration stem cell research, and here are some educational materials for teaching about stem cells, from the same website. Check out the Virtual Stem Cell Laboratory.

Stem cells are being found in many locations, even in the human placenta. Embryonic stem cells taken at the proper stage can potentially develop into any cell type. But at the rate that cell biologists are learning to control differentiation and de-differentiation of cells, that characteristic might not set embryonic stem cells apart for long. Stay tuned.