This one benefits me directly (reject, choice, postmortem, Israel)

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Cell therapy helps pig hearts keep to the beat

HUMAN embryonic stem cells have been used to create a biological pacemaker. Heart cells derived from them restored a normal heartbeat when implanted in malfunctioning pigs' hearts.

Investigators from the TechnionIsrael Institute of Technology in Haifa and elsewhere managed to turn the stem cells into heart cells by incubating them with a mix of biological signalling molecules, or growth factors. "You could see [the cells] beating in the culture dish," says Izhak Kehat, joint head of the team.

The researchers transplanted the heart cells into 13 pigs with damaged hearts, transferring from 40 to 150 clumps of cells to each one (Nature Biotechnology, DOl: 10.1038/nbt1014). In six of the animals, the heartbeat returned to normal within two weeks. Scans of the live animals and postmortems showed the pigs owed their recovery to the transplanted cells.

If the technique could be made to work in people, it would have advantages over conventional pacemakers. "An electrical pacemaker doesn't respond to physiological cues, but we showed that these cells can respond to adrenalin, making the heart beat faster," Kehat says. A disadva ntage is that patients would need to take drugs that suppress the immune system to prevent the cells being rejected, as is currently the case with conventional organ or tissue transplants. Andy Coghlan.

Source: NewScientist, October 2-8, 2004, This Week - a regular feature page 12

[linwood]

"You could see [the cells] beating in the culture dish,"

Incredible.

[painted wolf]

too bad they couldn't find a way to make these with the persons own stem cells so that the rejection would't be an issue.

I guess that the choice of what to put up with would have to be up to the patient. Live with a hunk of machinery in you or take loads of anti-rejection meds for the rest of your life... either way you still get a beating heart.

wa:do

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Originally Posted by painted wolf

too bad they couldn't find a way to make these with the persons own stem cells so that the rejection would't be an issue.

I guess that the choice of what to put up with would have to be up to the patient. Live with a hunk of machinery in you or take loads of anti-rejection meds for the rest of your life... either way you still get a beating heart.

wa:do

I've got the machinary (had it for 12 years) but eventually the heart muscle deteriates because of the trama of the heart attack.

There is research on muscular stem cells and one other place that hold promise for "self" transplant. It is said that it actually restores (or replaces?) dead tissue.

-pah-