New Way To Enhance Stem Cells To Stimulate Muscle Regeneration Discovered By Ottawa Scientists

Scientists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa have discovered a powerful new way to stimulate muscle regeneration, paving the way for new treatments for debilitating conditions such as muscular dystrophy.

The research, to be published in the June 5 issue of Cell Stem Cell, shows for the first time that a protein called Wnt7a increases the number of stem cells in muscle tissue, leading to accelerated growth and repair of skeletal muscle.

Use Of Adipose Stem Cells And Polylactide Discs For Tissue Engineering Of The Temporomandibular Joint Disc

There is currently no suitable replacement for the irreversibly damaged temporomandibular joint (TMJ) discs after discectomy. In this study, we designed a TMJ disc shaped scaffold of biodegradable polylactide and combined it with adipose stem cells (ASCs).

The expression of the extracellular matrix components, typical for the normal TMJ disc, was induced in the ASC-seeded PLA discs in chondrogenic medium.

The expression was close to similar to conventional pellet cultures but still remained from that measured in the positive control tissue. The combination of ASCs and PLA discs has potential for the development of a tissue-engineered TMJ disc replacement.

Pulmonary Hypertension Successfully Treated With Stem Cells

Zannos Grekos, MD, a featured speaker at the at the 17th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine and Regenerative Biotechnologies, announced one year follow-up results for a pulmonary hypertension patient treated with his own activated stem cells.

“It goes against traditional theory that we should try to fix the existing pulmonary vasculature, but we are generating new blood vessels with impressive results that are lasting beyond 12 months,” said Grekos, assistant clinical professor of cardiology at Nova Southeastern University and head of the international team that developed the stem cell treatment protocol.

Building A Better Blend Of Tumor-Fighting Cells

Israeli researchers have developed a technique that could produce a more effective blend of tumor-fighting immune cells used to treat cancers such as metastatic melanoma.

By delving deeper into the underlying properties of these cell blends, called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or TILs, Prof. Yoram Reiter of the Technion-Israel institute of Technology Faculty of Biology, his Ph.D. student Kfir Oved and colleagues have found a way to predict which TILs pack the strongest anti-tumor punch.

A Novel Method Of Isolating High Quality RNA From Kupffer Cells

Kupffer cells, resident tissue macrophages that line the liver sinusoids, play a key role in modulating inflammation in a number of experimental models of liver injury. Since Kupffer cells represent only a small portion of the entire liver cell population, greatly outnumbered by the parenchymal cells, Kupffer cell isolation faces major technical obstacles. Laser capture microdissection (LCM) offers a method of isolating a single cell type from specific regions of tissue sections.

Clinical Trial Demonstrates Safety Of Pre-Transplant Expansion Of Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells

Taking blood stem cells collected from an umbilical cord into the lab and expanding their number before transplanting them to replace a patient’s blood supply is as safe as a standard cord blood transplant, researchers reported at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

In a first-of-its-kind randomized clinical trial, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are addressing the critical challenge to successful “standard” cord blood transplants for adult patients – low doses of stem cells that lead to longer recovery times, leaving patients more vulnerable to bleeding, infection and transplant failure.

Dormant Stem Cells For Emergencies

Many specialized cells, such as in the skin, intestinal mucosa or blood, have a lifespan of only a few days. For these tissues to function, a steady replenishment of specialized cells is indispensable. This is the task of so-called “adult” stem cells also known as tissue stem cells.

Stem cells have two main characteristics: First, they are able to differentiate into all the different cell types that make up their respective tissue – a property called pluripotency. Second, they need to renew themselves in order to be able to supply new specialized tissue cells throughout life. These processes have best been studied in mouse bone marrow.

Not Only The Receiving, But Also The Transmitting Terminal Of A Nerve Cell’s Synapse Is Higly Adaptable

Where would we be without our ability to remember important information or, for that matter, to forget irrelevant details? Thanks to the flexibility of the nerve cell’s communication units, called synapses, we are good at both. Up to now, only the receiving side of a synapse was believed to play an active role in this reorganization of the brain, which is thought to underlie our ability to learn but also to forget. An incorrect assumption, as scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried could now show. In the prestigious scientific journal Neuron, they report that the neurotransmitter-releasing part of a synapse dramatically remodels itself in response to electrical stimulation. It may thus make a decisive contribution to the adaptability of the brain to ever-changing environments. (

Insight Into Adaptive Ability Of Cells Offered By Rong Li Lab

The Stowers Institute’s Rong Li Lab has published findings that shed light on the ability of cells to adapt to disruptions to their basic division machineries – findings that may help explain how cancer cells elude the body’s natural defense mechanisms or chemotherapy treatment. The work was published in the November 26 issue of Cell.

Working with yeast cells, the team disabled a motor protein, type II myosin – which normally powers cell division – and observed the cellular response. As predicted, blocking division initially resulted in severe growth and cytokinesis defects. But after several selection passages, some cells were able to solve the problems. Unexpectedly, these cells ended up with more than the normal number of chromosomes. The abnormal chromosome numbers led to changes in the patterns of gene expression, which correlated with the cells’ ability to evolve new ways to complete division and resume growth.

Mouse Model Produces Pure Insulin-Producing Cells

Singapore researchers have developed an unlimited number of pure insulin-producing cells from mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs).

These pure insulin-producing cells, which according to electron microscopy studies, have the same sub-cellular structures as the insulin-producing cells naturally found in the pancreas, were highly effective in treating diabetes in the mouse model.

The transplants of pure insulin-producing cells reduced the blood glucose levels of diabetic mice with high blood glucose levels.