What Are Stem Cells ? - (A Prelude To My Stem Cell Surgery Success)
About two and a something years ago I took part in an experimental stem cell clinical trial to repair a cartilage defect in my knee. My case was quite successful and I plan to share it in a future post in full detail.
But before doing that, I decided to make a couple posts about stem cells, what they are, how they work, what can we treat with them, where is the research at the moment etc. Please note that I am not a doctor, so I will try to stick to the basics :)
So... stem cells... They have been quite a sensation these days... You might have read about them on overly optimistic articles that claim we will be able to grow limbs with them in just a couple of years... Or you may have come across certain over the counter products that claim to "strengthen", "increase", "refresh" or whatever your natural reservoir of stem cells making you healthier and younger...
Or you might have heard about them from more modest sources, that keep the tone down a bit and say that they are very promising in treating all kinds of conditions but still the research is only in early developmental stages and we need at least 5-10 years before seeing any actual mainstream (and covered by insurance!) applications!
Note: As of today, Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only widely practiced, clinically approved and insurance covered stem cell therapy. Anything else falls under "clinical trial", "research purposes", "experimental" or something along that lines!
Or maybe you have heard about them only from overly conservative sources, saying that stem cells are the devil's tool and how the reptilians are using them as an excuse to kill (and eat!) babies... But have you ever wondered what these often touted as "magical" cells actually are?
What Are Stem Cells?
Here's a simple definition from wikipedia:
Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide (through mitosis) to produce more stem cells.
So, in other words, stem cells are the cells that give birth to other cells! Every skin, bone, blood, whatever cell in your body originates from a stem cell!
Stem cells are found in all multicellular organisms and have many properties that make them distinct from our regular cells, with the two main ones being:
- Self-renewal: This is the ability of a stem cell to go through numerous cycles of cell division while maintaining the undifferentiated state. Simply put, the ability to produce more stem cells!
- Potency: The capacity of a stem cell to turn into other specialized cells, e.g. a skin or bone cell.
And this is where things start to get a bit complicated, because...
Not All Stem Cells Are Created Equal
There are many ways to categorize stem cells. One of them is by their "potency" that I talked about before. Not all stem cells are created equal, and not all stem cells have the same potency. So, with that in mind we can put a stem cell in one of the following categories:
- Totipotent: These are the best of the best, the strongest of the strong, the 300 Spartans. Also known as omnipotent stem cells, just one single of them has the potential, under ideal conditions (e.g. a young womb), to turn into a fully functional organism. As you probably know, humans and other animals first start as an one cell zygote, which essentially is a totipontent stem cell!
- Pluripotent: These are again true power houses. True, they can't form a fully functional organism but still can turn into all kinds of cells and tissues, except the ones that form the placenta. They are directly descended from totipotent stem cells
- Multipotent: Ok, here's where things start to slow down. These stem cells are somewhat strong as they can again turn into a great number of other cells, however these cells are always closely "related". For example, mesenchymal stem cells (which are widely used in many clinical trials today) are a type of multipotent stem cell that can only turn into "structural" cells; osteoblasts (bone cells), chondrocytes (cartilage cells), myocytes (muscle cells) and adipocytes (fat cells)
- Oligopotent: These are similar to multipotent stem cells, again they only have the capacity to differentiate in a (even more) limited number of again closely "related" cells. A good example of this are vascular stem cells which can only become endothelial or smooth muscle cells.
- Unipotent: As the name suggests, these stem cells suck! They can only turn into one type of cell. However, this is just a theoretical term, as we have yet to discover such a stem cell!
Transmission electron micrograph of a mesenchymal stem cell, a type of multipotent stem cell (credit)
Other Methods Of Classifying Stem Cells
If you reached this point your brain is probably getting tired but please hand on a bit as I will be brief!
Potency is just one way to classify stem cells. Their "purpose" in our life cycle is another method. With that in mind, we can categorize them into two groups:
- Embryonic stem cells: These are the very stem cells that give life. The zygote and the immediate stem cells that derive from it fall under this category. They are the strongest of the strong, and are either omnipotent or pluripotent.
- Adult stem cells: These are the stem cells we carry within our body after we are born. Their purpose is to keep our body alive by replenishing the cells that die due to age or trauma. Sometimes they do a really good job. For example, our blood cells get replenished all day long. Another example of a job well-done is when fixing a superficial cut in our skin, it gets repaired perfectly. Sometimes, they do a somewhat good job, for example deeper cuts on the skin repair but there is always a scar left. And sometimes they can't really do much, for example spinal cord injury victims are typically doomed to some short of disability for the rest of their life..
Human embryonic stem cells (credit)
The End
So, that's enough stem cells for today :D
In my next posts I will cover embryonic and adult stem cells in more extend, along with the various syb-types, like mesenchymal, hematopoietic, neural, whatever stem cells and I will also introduce you to another third type of stem cell, the induced pluripotent stem cell, an artificial lab-grown stem cell which holds a lot of promise!
And after I cover all the basics, I plan to share my personal stem cell success story along with MRIs and full details of what they did to me. It was some pretty advanced shit!
Disclaimer
As I said I am no doctor, just a food scientist, please excuse any errors or oversimplifications :D
References & Further Reading
Steemstem & SteemitEducation
Steemstem is the go-to place for science on Steemit. Check it out at @steemstem or visit the #steemSTEM channel. A big thank you also goes to the guys from @steemiteducation for supporting my content!
Greek Community
A final big thanks goes to my fellow greeks for their support and love. Follow the greek-trail or check the facebook page for more greek content!
That is a really cool series. I didn't know all stem cells were not equal. I am looking forward to read the rest.
PS: are you sure one is really talking about your knee? :D
Glad you enjoyed it. I'll try my best, there is plenty of interesting stuff to actually write about stem cells especially in the last 5 years that the research has really boomed. Despite their still "experimental" status they have have changed (to the better) the lives of so many people, with all kinds of conditions for which there are no currently other viable options. I am just one of so many. I am sure that after 2030 when they will be more mainstream, stem cells in combination with some other things (e.g. scaffolds) will have literally changed the field of regenerative medicine!
I just learned what word scaffold was in English. If I understand correctly, this can be seen as a kind of seed for tissue regeneration. Is that correct?
well scaffolds are materials (made from all kinds of stuff like hydrogels) that are usually used as a "bridge" in places where tissue is missing due to trauma or whatever. For example, if there is a bone or cartilage "hole" there are many scaffolds to patch them up, with varying results. Cells then migrate from the surrounding tissue and the scaffold is gradually absorbed and replaced with new tissue. Scaffolds can also be seeded with stem cells and other stuff (like hormones) for even better results.
Depending on the surrounding tissue and the scaffold, success can be anything from excellent (e.g. when dealing with bone loss) to mediocre/poor (cartilage). Scaffolds are another great field of regenerative medicine heavily researched (which often doesn't reach headline status like stem cells).
All in all, I think the future of regenerative medicine lies in therapies that combine stem cells, scaffolds and "ingredients" (like human growth hormone) that guideline stem cells (both the native and the introduced ones) to repair the damage. Unfortunately, all these three methods are still experimental, so we still have a long way to go until mainstream practise. Having said that, there are many clinical trials that have achieved "miracles" for which I will talk in future posts :D
Oh, I didn't want to force you writing half a full post as a comment :) Thanks a lot for these clear pieces of information! I don't know what to ask next, as this is very complete (and better to what I found quickly on the net the other day).
This is a topic I have actually grown huge interest and I always keep myself up to date. Writting that comment came naturally and took me about a minute :)
Okay, I am a little bit reinsured. Don't want to be the one eating all your precious time ;)
nah don't worry. And actually you are probably one of the few people that actually reads the posts or at least part of them XD
Great to see you benefit from this @trumpman. I hope the same can happen for me in the near future.
hey, do you have a particular problem, or just speaking in general?
I have crushed bones in my spine. Can this regrow damaged vertibrae?
well the thing is I can't give you a definite answer first because i am not a doctor and because everything is still on early stages... But from personal experience and the research I have done I say there is a good chance that they can help you, especially if they are cultured first in the lab..
I suggest you to check if there are any clinical trials running in your country, because private drs often offer shitty services that they know do jack-shit for too much money. A clinical trial will give you the real deal (unless you get unlucky and get chosen for the placebo group) for free! However, often the placebo group also receives the real deal after the trial is over...
Feel free to message me on steemit.chat if you want to discuss this more :D
Thanks for the info. I'm in Australia and will keep an eye out for this.
Cool, I have heard they are running many stem cell trials there.There are also plenty of forums and stuff, I am sure you can find lots of info with some googling. Just remember to be very skeptical of everything you read! There is both a lot of hype and fud going on :D
Just a Heads up this user is stealing your work. I caught him stealing mine to. Looks like everything he has posted was copied from other Steemit users.
https://steemit.com/fact/@rekha007/what-are-stem-cells-a-prelude-to-my-stem-cell-surgery-success
Hey man thanks for the tip. I reported him to steemcleaners his account will soon be dead 😁😁😁
Your Welcome :-)
i see stem cells got you away from weirdness for a post :P
really well put bro, and glad your surgery worked out well !
thanks!
Excellent post! Thank you! Perhaps it's better that you are not a doctor because maybe that way you're better suited to lay out the subject in simple terms. You give it to us in the way you understand it and that's why we understand it as well.
I see now that which we were talking about in the chat. And you may have inspired me to refresh my knowledge and start an introductory series to high energy physics and the like. Hmm... We'll see...
PS: I'm glad that everything worked out with your treatment. It's great that you were able to benefit from this new treatment. Looking forward to your story!
Cool man thanks for reading. Can't wait to read your posts :D
Excellent post@trumpman. Thanks for the information about stem cells.
Thanks :)
Your this post is very informative . thank you
i doubt you read it but thanks I guess
i read it full.. otherwise why i lie comment
because this is quite a big post and you commented 10 seconds after it came out. Your rep of course is another giveaway dumbass
No he read it, I was there, I saw
hahaha thank you dear
Well done. I will be following your blogs. Any chance you have any xrays/mri of the injury before and after stem cell treatment? I would be interested in finding out more. Also, did you get your stem cell treatments in the United States or somewhere else?