Cosmetic Surgery to Use Stem Cells?
Stem cell researchers have revealed how cosmetic surgeries like breast augmentation and wrinkle removal can be improved by using natural implants to retain the original shape and size better than what synthetics can do.
Researchers say that cosmetic surgery may be done with stem-cell generated natural tissues rather than the synthetic implants. Silicone and saline implants commonly used for breast augmentation may possibly leak, rupture and then interfere with detections of breast cancers on mammograms. But with stem cell generated natural tissue implants, these problems can be avoided.
Also, reconstructive surgeries that are done to replace tissues lost due to cancer and some other disease can benefit a lot from stem cell generated natural implants that do not shrink or even lost their shapes. Researchers have shown that those conventional soft tissue implants relatively lose about forty to sixty percent of their volume over time. Common examples are breast tissue reconstructions after a surgery of breast cancer, and a facial soft tissue reconstruction right after a trauma or cancer surgery.
How do natural implants work?
Natural implants most oftentimes require separate surgical procedures from one healthy location of the body of the patient, so as to gather tissues for the construction of the implant. The approach of the stem-cell method does not necessarily require an extensive surgery because in the first place, cells that are needed for implants are generally attained in less invasive needle procedures.
Jeremy Mao, Ph.D, a Whitaker investigator of the University of Illinois at Chicago showed his results during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. He stated that the stem-cell approach might help eradicate the necessities for any additional surgeries. He added that this method may effectively produce a better, long-lasting, and more shapely natural implant.
The research group the Mao led started with using a line of human stem cells obtained from a young volunteer’s bone marrow. Their studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cell can efficiently transform themselves into many varieties of cell types under proper conditions. These transformations normally include those that form bone, cartilage, and fat. In this particular case, the stem cells were developed with other substances that help them to become fat-producing cells.
Probing the Study
To further prove the research, cells produced from this particular culture were placed in a scaffold that is similar with the natural environment where fat cells grow in the body. This scaffold is Food and Drug Administration-approved. This hydrogen-scaffold can be moulded into specific size or shapes. These scaffolds that were cell-seeded were then carefully placed under the skin in eight laboratory mice. In four weeks time, the implants were removed and then examined.
Mao’s team found out that the stem cells had greatly separated into fat generating cells. The implant as well had maintained both its original shape and size. On the other hand, conventional implants started to lose its shape just within a few weeks time. The team was greatly encouraged, knowing the fact that their implants have preserved its original elements for a month.
These results alone clearly demonstrate about the potentials of using the stem-cell approach in medical applications. However, longer term studies are needed while more questions remain to be answered. Additional researchers are also musts as to the density of the cells used in the culture, along with the rates at which the scaffold degrades. Also, further researches should focus on the relationship between the existing host tissues and the implants.
Nonetheless, this present approach simply represents another leap towards achieving an alternative tissue engineering method for soft tissue reconstruction and augmentation.
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