Regenerative Medicine

Introduction

Regenerative medicine simply involves taking conceptual ideas and applying them to a clinical setting. For example, stem cells have been used to regenerate damaged or defective tissues such as the heart after myocardial infarction. This is known as translational research and has great potential for the treatment of many diseases although it’s still in the early stages and success is fleeting at best. There are many clinical trials currently ongoing for treating an array of diseases from MI to dry type age related macular degeneration. Regenerative medicine has its root set in developmental biology where the formation of a new organism involves the generation of new tissue through the use of pluripotent stem cells (embryonic stem cells).

Tissue Regeneration

As a concept regenerative medicine requires two main aspects for the regeneration of tissue which is a starting cell type (usually a stem cell) and a support structure known as a scaffold to provide signalling and biomechanical stimuli. Which starting cell type depends on the characteristics needed and also availability and ethics. Three options exist which are embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, each have their advantages and disadvantages. The scaffold is usually formed from either natural or synthetic polymers, ideally the scaffold material should be identical to the transplant site. The properties of the scaffold greatly influence the behavior and effectiveness of transplanted cells, for example, stem cells transplanted into hard brittle are more likely to differentiate into bone cells such as osteocytes as seen when using mesenchymal stem cells (a type of adult stem cell found in bone marrow and other areas).

Additionally other approaches can be used such as in situ stem cell therapies that aim to manipulate a stem cell niche to force regeneration or using medical devices to mechanically or chemically stimulate a stem cell niche.

More to come!

Further Reading:
http://www.eurostemcell.org/