Now, broken knees can be mended by growing cartilage from stem cells.Byline: ANI Washington, Oct 22 (ANI): People who have damaged their knee joints can get them repaired with new cartilage grown from stem cells stem cells, unspecialized human or animal cells that can produce mature specialized body cells and at the same time replicate themselves. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst (the blastula typical of placental mammals; see embryo), which is very young in a laboratory, according to a study at the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineering An interdisciplinary field in which the principles, laws, and techniques of engineering, physics, chemistry, and other physical sciences are applied to facilitate progress in medicine, biology, and other life sciences. . Already, professor Kyriacos Athanasiou and his colleagues used adult stem cells from bone marrow and skin as well as human embryonic stem cells, to grow cartilage tissue in the lab. And now, they are experimenting with various chemical and mechanical stimuli to improve its properties. Cartilage is one of the very rare tissues that lacks the ability to heal itself. When damaged by injury or osteoarthritis osteoarthritis or osteoarthrosis or degenerative joint disease Most common joint disorder, afflicting over 80% of those who reach age 70. It does not involve excessive inflammation and may have no symptoms, especially at first. , the effects can be long lasting and devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. . "If I cut a tiny line on articular cartilage (the cartilage that covers the surfaces of bones at joints), it will never be erased. It's like writing on the moon. If I go back to look at it a year later, it will look exactly the same," said Athanasiou. Work that Athanasiou's group began in the early 1990s at Rice University has resulted in the only FDA-approved products for treatment of small lesions on articular cartilage. "This will be live, biological cartilage that will not only fill defects, but will potentially be able to resurface re·sur·face v. re·sur·faced, re·sur·fac·ing, re·sur·fac·es v.tr. To cover with a new surface: resurfacing a road; resurfaced the floor. v.intr. the entire surface of joints that have been destroyed by osteoarthritis," said Athanasiou. Currently, joint replacements using metal and plastic prosthetics are the only recourse for the one in five adults who will suffer major joint damage from osteoarthritis. (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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