What is Stem Cell?
Stem cells
are undifferentiated cells. The stem
cells are capable of differentiating into special cells.
These Stem
Cells can be obtained from two different sources:
1. Embryonic
Stem Cells- These Stem Cells are formed during embryonic developments when the
embryo is in blastocyst phase of development.
2. Adult
Stem Cells- These Stem Cells are obtained from adult tissues.
The Stem
Cells are classified according to their potency to differentiate into different
cell types, such as, bones, skin, or muscle cells etc.
What is Stem Cell Therapy?
Stem Cell
therapy is to use Stem Cells to treat a particular disease or body condition. Stem Cell treatments are used to treat or
prevent certain diseases or conditions which are not treatable by conventional methods
of treatment. Stem Cell treatment is also considered as a potential preventive
measure to check certain physical ailments from developing.
The most
widely used Stem Cell Treatment is Bone Marrow Transplant. The most common source
of Stem Cells is Umbilical Cord Blood, which can be stored and preserved for
future use.
Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes
Any type of
Diabetes is a lifelong disease. The number of children suffering from Type 1
Juvenile Diabetes is on the increase. Diabetes can be controlled but there is no
cure for Diabetes.
Blood sugar
is essential to provide energy to the body cells. The sugar in the blood is in the form of
Glucose. The hormone insulin is responsible to control the level of Glucose in
blood. This insulin is made by beta
cells, situated as clusters, called islets of Langerhans, in Pancreas.
Production
of insulin is hampered if these beta cells do not work properly. The beta cells
may be absent or non functional since birth, causing Type 1 Diabetes. Or the
beta cells have less power to produce required amount of insulin at a later
stage, causing Type 2 Diabetes. The
level of glucose in blood becomes uncontrolled in both the cases and insulin is
needed to be administered parentally from outside the body to control blood
sugar level.
There is no
clinically proven stem cell treatment for Diabetes. Beta cells cannot be manufactured in
laboratories. Otherwise it would have been very easy to treat Diabetes by
transplanting the beta cells from laboratory. Though attempts are being made to
mature Pluripotent Stem Cells into beta cells in the laboratory to be used as stem cell
therapy for Diabetes. Pluripotent cells have the capacity to produce
any type of cells in the body and current medical research is going on to
produce fully functional beta cells from Pluripotent cells from either
embryonic stem cells or induced Pluripotent cells.
It is
considered possible to treat Type 1 Diabetes with Stem Cell therapy. Isolated Islet cells may be transplanted in
the patient. These isolated islet cells contain beta cells. This transplant can
regain control of blood sugar management by producing natural insulin.
Transplant
of a whole Pancreas from a donor is also found to be an effective treatment of
Type 1 Diabetes. The natural insulin
thus produced by newly transplanted organ or cells eliminates the need of
administering insulin.
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