Stem cell banks and cord blood banks are becoming more and more commonthose days but did you know that the world's first stem cell bank actuallyofficially opened in the United Kingdom in 2004.
This stem cells bank opened in Hertfordshire and contained two stemcells lines actually developed in London and Newcastle. With peoplenot fully understanding how important stem cells could be for us, everybodyagrees that more research need to be done in order to help understand all that.
Stemcell research really offers an enormous potential for major advances inclinical therapy and could really save lives. Stem cells could be used fordifferent roles like for example replacing damaged cells due to a disease, suchas diabetes.
Evenif a lot of people think that extracting stem cells from human embryos isunethical, those stem cells can also be extracted from umbilical cord bloodwhich can be seen as less of a problem and is certainly something more ethicalas well.
Humanumbilical cord blood cells are very rich in stem cells and progenitor cellswhich make them the perfect place to take stem cells from and then store themin a cord blood bank or a stem cells bank.
Studieswere done were intravenously infused cord blood cells entered the brain,survived, differentiated and actually improved neurological functional recoveryafter strokes in rats.
Neuraltransplantation has been used to study and promote the regenerative potentialof the brain after an ischemic insult. Fetal neutral stem cells can reducebehavioral deficits in damaged and compromised brain in animals and in humans.However, transplantation of embryonic grafts is plagued with logistical andethical considerations. Thus, it is reasonable to seek alternative sources oran equivalent of stem cells. Stem cells have been isolated from various tissuesin animals and humans, including adult bone marrow, cord blood and even humanbrain.
Human umbilical cord blood cells are rich inmescenchymal progenitor cells and contain a large number of endothelial cellprecursors. Cord blood cells contain many immature stem cells with extensiveproliferation capacity in vitro. Human umbilical cord blood cells have beenused as a source of transplantable stem cells and as a source of transplantablestem cells or progenitor cells but also as a source of marrow-repopulatingcells for the treatment of pediatric disease. Those cells have been usedrecently to reconstitute marrow in a child with a severe Fanconi anemia and totreat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in mice.
