Stem Cells Could Transform Plastic Surgery

Tag : Silicone Breast Enhancer


In the case of fat grafts, they also might not last as long as apatient would like, as fat transferred whole to a new part of thebody has a tendency to break down as time goes on.

Replacing these fillers with stem cells could solve the problems.

Stem cell magic

Stem cells are cells that have the ability to make more ofthemselves and to differentiate into special types of cells, likeskin or other tissue types.

Some stem cells, called pluripotent or multipotent , are capable of turning into many different kinds of cells andgrowing wide varieties of tissues, ranging from bone to neurons toorgans and muscle.

While embryonic stem cells are the most well-known type (and thetype that raises controversy), not all pluri- and multi-potentcells come from embryos.

Certain so-called adult stem cells, which we make in our bodies,also have these abilities and would most likely be the cells usedin plastic surgery.

"If we can capitalize on stem-cell biology, we can use those cellsto reconstruct lost tissue or construct new tissue in a lessinvasive way," Rubin said.

In order to do this, he said, researchers would separate out multi-or pluripotent adult stem cells and grow them in a petri dish.

Depending on how they're grown and what materials they're grown in,the stem cells can be coaxed into taking on different specialties,such as fat or cartilage.

Those cells would then be injected into the patient, where theywould continue to grow and divide, creating a small amount ofnatural tissue. No surgery required.

According to Rubin and colleagues, these techniques could one daybe used to fill out wrinkles on an aging face, replace breasttissue lost to cancer treatment, or even grow a natural breast implant .

Fat chance

While these applications are still a ways out, plastic surgeons inEurope and Asia are already using stem cells to get better resultsfor their patients. To do this, they're harvesting stem cells froman unlikely place — human fat.

It turns out that fat is an ample source of multi- and pluripotentstem cells. Science has known for decades that fat tissue is hometo a large population of immature cells that have the ability togrow into new fat cells.

Rubin said that around 2000 and 2001, researchers began to realizethat these "pre-fat cells" were actually stem cells that couldbecome not just fat, but cartilage, bone and even neurons and heartmuscle.

Unlike other tissues rich in stem cells, such as bone marrow, fattissue is easy to extract. All you need is liposuction .

Today, as part of ongoing clinical trials and regular practice,doctors outside the United States are taking stem cells fromliposuctioned fat and using them to make traditional fat graftsmore effective.

Tom Baker, director of investor relations for Cytori, a SanDiego-based company that makes machines for processing fat stemcells in the operating room, described how it works.

First, a doctor liposuctions fat from a patient. Half that fat getsset aside, while the other half is processed to pull out a mixtureof cells rich in stem cells.

That mixture is then injected back into the reserved fat, which isgrafted into place inside the patient.

The result is a fat graft supercharged with stem cells.

Healthier cells

A Japanese study and a Cytori-funded study presented at the SanAntonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December 2007 have shown thatthe supercharged grafts, unlike normal fat grafts, maintain a morenatural shape and don't wither away.

The difference is extremely important to patients. The Japanesestudy, for instance, was conducted on women who'd lost part of abreast to cancer and wanted the reconstructive surgery to look asnormal as possible.

Supercharged fat grafts work because stem cells do more than justgrow new cells, said Rubin's colleague Dr. Keith March, a professorof medicine, cellular and integrative physiology and biomedicalengineering at the Indiana University School of Medicine. They alsosupport cells and tissues, making them healthier.

"It's just like the trunk of a tree," March said. "It gives rise tobranches and roots, but it's also involved in providing thenutrient supply. Stem cells are involved in maintaining andrepairing the tissues around them."

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