Regenerative Medicine – Rebuilding the Body
Everyone of us has an army of STEM cells whose job is to help repair and heal us when we’re injured. Researchers are harnessing the power of STEM cells to open up a new frontier in medicine. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.
Barrett: One thing thats really interesting about STEM cells is they actually can sense not only the chemicals in their environment but the material that theyre stuck to in their environment.
Doctor Jennifer Barrett is an Associate Professor at Virginia Techs Marion Dupont Scott Equine Medical Center.
Barrett: So, they can sense the geometry of it. In other words, if theyre on a fiber, they can tell whether its a wide diameter or a skinny diameter. And if theyre on a fiber, they can tell how strong that fiber is, how stiff that fiber is, how elastic that fiber is. They sense this, and it actually is information that the STEM cells use to know what to do. And so, if theyre in an environment thats very loose and elastic, they might make something more like nerve. If theyre on a material thats really hard and stiff, they will make a tissue that is bone. So, the environment actually instructs the cells what to do.
Not only do they sense the static environment that theyre in; in other words, what it feels like around them, but they can also sense when theyre pulled on.
So, they can sense when a muscle contracts, if theyre injected into a muscle. They can sense when a tendon is stretched, if theyre injected into a tendon. And all of that information the chemical environment in other words, the proteins that are around, the topographical environment in other words, the fibers that are around and the mechanical environment in other words, the stretch that theyre experiencing tell the stem cells what to do.
Dr. Barrett estimates we’re 5 to 10 years away from applying this research into therapies for people. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.