Free Republic

LONDON, March 29 - The day may be coming when stem cells help arthritis patients repair their own joints. Cultured adult human periosteal stem cells demonstrate mesenchymal multipotency, suggesting that they may be used to repair tissue and joint damage associated with arthritis, researchers here reported. Upon enzymatic release and culture expansion, cells harvested from the periosteum can "give rise to cartilage and bone," wrote Cosimo De Bari, M.D., Ph.D. and colleagues at King's College London in the April issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. Moreover, the cells differentiated into chondrocyte, osteoblast, adipocyte and myocyte lineages regardless of donor age. Although...

Rush cardiologists are hoping that transplanted stem cells can regenerate damaged heart muscle in those who experience a first heart attack. The study involves an intravenous infusion of adult mesenchymal stem cells from healthy donor bone marrow that might possibly reverse damage to heart tissue. A unique benefit of the stem cell product is that it is given to patients through a standard IV line. Other therapies require delivery to the site of the disease through catheterization or open surgical procedures, but this one is very simple and easy for the patient. “A person who has had a single, severe...