Stem cells in the most unexpected places

measuring_cup__.jpgTime was when pleuripotent stem cells were supposedly only available from human embryos which led to heated debates on ethics and morality.
Since then, multipotent stem cells have been isolated from different organs of the human body, be it from the umbilical cord blood, the bone marrow, even from the skin. Recent research studies have now pinpointed even more unexpected sources of stem cells.

Stem cells in menstrual blood [1, 2]

Researchers at the University Pittsburgh’s McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine observed that menstrual blood stromal cells (MenSCs) exhibit a great capacity for self-renewal and multipotency.

“MenSCs could differentiate into adipogenic, chondrogenic, osteogenic, ectodermal, mesodermal, cardiogenic, and neural cell lineages… [They] expanded rapidly and maintained greater than 50 percent of their telomerase activity when compared to human embryonic stem cells and better than bone marrow-derived stem cells.”

Stem cells in breast milk [3]

On the other side of the globe, researchers at the University of Western Australia recovered the stem cell markers nestin from breast milk. These cells physically resemble stem cells and could potentially behave like stem cells.

If nestin and MenSCs indeed prove to be as plastic and pleuripotent as embryonic stem cells, then, we may have found stem cell sources which are unlimited, inexpensive, most of all, noncontroversial. Furthermore, these cells are easily collectable without resorting to invasive techniques.

Sources:

  1. Eureka Alert, 23 April 2008
  2. Patel et al. Cell Transplantation 2008; 17: 303-311
  3. Science Alert, 10 February 2008

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May 14, 2008. Biotechnology, Stem Cells. No Comments.

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