STEM Cell Sourcing

Stem cells can be obtained from several sources, and each source has its

ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES. So let’s explore which source of stem cells will not only get you the best results, but is safe and FDA-approved.

Stem cells can be broadly considered to be sourced 3 ways: allogenically, autogenically and xenogenically. The source of cells utilized can be autologous, meaning from the patient himself, allogenic, meaning from a human donor not immunologically identical, or xenogenic, meaning from a different species. Allogenic sources include placental, umbilical cord, and embryonic tissue; autogenic sources are principally bone marrow and adipose tissue.

EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS

Human embryonic stem cells (HESCs) are very potent and very effective in their capability to differentiate into various types of tissue. However, they are derived from fetal tissue (prior to conception or from dead fetal matter) and therefore brings with it MORAL and ETHICAL ISSUES.

These ethical concerns surrounding sourcing results in a very limited supply of these cells. With a limited supply of embryonic stem cells, extensive in vitro (made in a laboratory) expansion would be required to obtain a sufficient number of cells for therapeutic purposes. Therefore, HESCs have been mostly derived and cultured on a layer of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). The concern over xenogenic (from an animal) contaminants from the mouse feeder cells may be a limiting factor for transplantation to humans.

Furthermore, these HESC’s have been shown to cause tumors (CANCER) in the tissues.

WHY WE DO NOT RECOMMEND HESCs:

MORAL and ETHICAL DILEMMA

CAN CAUSE CANCER

CONTAMINATION

ADULT STEM CELLS

Adult stem cells have the advantage of being non-immunogenic (no allergic reactions). They are currently in wide use for a broad range of clinical applications. These cells are usually derived from autologous (from patient) bone marrow or fat cells, which are extracted in one procedure, isolated, treated and amplified, and then reinserted to the target pathological area through another interventional procedure.

There exists a wide variety of methods by which the cells are isolated, treated and amplified. These can vary even from procedure to procedure within a single clinic. Most of these processes are proprietary, and many are protected by patent. As a result, there is no simple way to determine if a procedure or a particular application has clinical validity. Much of the information available takes on an air of being anecdotal, and resistant to investigation through rigorous scientific method. Most, if not all, of the current clinical use of adult stem cells in the United States would fall under this rather inauspicious descriptor.

Besides the fact that the use of adult stem cells is non-standardized, and there’s no uniformity and no quality control, the application requires a surgical intervention to harvest the stem cells. This surgical intervention increases risk (as with any surgery) and increases the cost to the patient.

Furthermore, the results are NOT CONSISTENT. That’s because these adult stem cells may lack the 3 essential components necessary for a successful treatment: Growth factors (GF’s), Bio-molecules and collagen scaffold (the activator, the tools and the plan). In addition, we already established that the number of adult stem cells drastically declines with age, so often not enough healthy cells can be harvested.

WHY WE DO NOT RECOMMEND ADULT STEM CELLS:

Requires SURGERY (increases RISK and COST)

INCONSISTENT RESULTS

NOT ENOUGH HEALTHY CELLS AVAILABLE (age)

NO QUALITY CONTROL

NOT STANDARDIZED (not FDA approved)

PLACENTAL TISSUE MATRIX

Using placental tissue as a source of stem cells, derived from the placenta of healthy and screened U.S. women after a C-section delivery (donors are free of disease), is by far your best option.

The placenta contains approximately 100 million AEC’s (amniotic epithelial cells) which have all the properties of stem cells. So we don’t have to worry about the amount of stem cells, also knowing that they have the ability to self-replicate.

Even more importantly, and unlike other sources of stem cells (with the exception of umbilical cord), placenta tissue contains all 3 key components necessary for effective and consistent repair and regeneration of connective tissue:

Growth Factors (GF’s): to activate the stem cells,

Bio-molecules: to provide the tools (brick and mortar) necessary for repair and rebuilding connective tissue,

Collagen scaffold: to provide the structure and framework (blueprint) for optimal reconstruction and regeneration of connective tissue.

In addition, placental tissue is non-immunogenic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-microbial. No moral and ethical issues exist.

The procurement and procedure (harvesting, processing and sterilization, storage and distribution) of the placenta is conducted under strict FDA-guidelines.

WHY WE DO RECOMMEND PLACENTA TISSUE MATRIX:

NO SURGERY

AMPLE HEALTHY STEM CELLS

ALL KEY COMPONENTS AVAILABLE (GF’s, biomolecules, collagen scaffold)

REDUCES PAIN & INFLAMMATION

VERY EFFECTIVE, NO ADVERSE REACTIONS, MINIMAL DOWNTIME

100% SAFE & FDA-APPROVED

COST-EFFECTIVE

STEM CELL SOURCES POSITIVE 

STEM CELL SOURCES NEGATIVE

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What Are Stem Cells?

In simple terms, a stem cell is a single cell that can replicate itself (self-renew and generate perfect copies of itself upon division) OR differentiate into many cell types (produce specialized cell types that perform specific functions in the body).

 

To use an analogy, a stem cell is like a joker in a deck of cards. We can decide what the joker will become. We can have the Joker become an ace of spades or a ten of hearts etc.

As such, a stem cell can become a blood cell, brain cell, cartilage, muscle cell, tendon, ligament, skin etc. Or a stem cell can simply replicate itself and make another stem cell.

These properties allow for the production of unlimited quantities of defined cell types for use in research, transplantation and regeneration.

 

Stem cells therefore replace damaged tissue, and rebuild and regenerate the tissue to be NEW and fully FUNCTIONAL once again.

 

Important to realize is that our BODY has many stem cells in it, but most of them are inactive. In other words, we have the machinery available to stay young and repair and renew our cells, tissues and organs but the machinery needs to be turned on. It’s the SIGNALING (turning on the ‘on’ switch) that’s missing in our body.

 

But even if we can TURN ON the machinery and ACTIVATE our stem cells, they still would need the TOOLS and a PLAN to repair and rebuild connective tissue.

 

For example, if you need your roof repaired, we need a roofer. We can activate the roofer and tell him to repair the roof. Even though he may be very capable and willing, he will need the specific tools to repair and rebuild the roof, and a blue-print or engineering plan to do so effectively. Furthermore, if the roofer needs help because the project is big, the roofer will need more roofers.

 

The same holds true for stem cells. We can activate the stem cells and ask them to repair a rotator cuff tendon for example. How are stem cells signaled or activated in the body? Growth Factors (GF) is the answer. GF’s activate and stimulate stem cells and wake them up out of their dormant state.

 

Now, these stem cells will need BIO-MOLECULES such as proteins (TOOLS) and a COLLAGEN SCAFFOLD (ENGINEERING PLAN or STRUCTURAL BLUE PRINT) to effectively repair, rebuild, regenerate and renew the tendon. Does that make sense? In case the tissue damage is extensive, stem cells may replicate themselves and generate more stem cells to get the job done.

Another important fact about stem cells: the number of stem cells in our body drastically declines with age, and therefore less and less stem cells are available for activation as we age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This graph shows the decline in the amount of stem cells available as we age.

 

 

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Major Frustrations joint injury patients encounter when trying to get conventional help

Stem Cell Therapy For Rheumatoid Arthritis

As improved treatment methods continue to develop, so does the efficiency and viability of stem cell research and therapy. As these new treatments and advancements are made, we are able to offer more successful options for our patients who suffer from chronic pain. At Neo Matrix Medical we treat a number of ailments including:

• Degenerative Disc Disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Tennis Elbow
• Stress Fractures
• Tendinitis
• Tendinosis

• Turf Toe
• Bursitis
• ACL, PCL, Meniscus tears
• Rotator Cuff Injury
• Frozen Shoulder
• Rheumatoid Arthritis

While many of these types of ailments are prevalent later in adulthood, one of the most common afflictions we treat our patients for is Rheumatoid Arthritis.

What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the human body attacks the thin membrane that lines the joints, also called the synovium, within your body. Once these membranes have been broken down, joint pain is often the most prevalent symptom. Without the necessary membranes in your joints, fluid build-ups and creates painful inflammation. This chronic disease leaves patients in constant pain and can eventually lead to permanent joint damage, loss of joint junction, and disability. Treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis are available, but are often more successful when caught early-on and with aggressive action.

Can Stem Cell Therapy Help Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Unfortunately, Rheumatoid Arthritis is often seen as incurable ailment. However, Neo Matrix Medical is here to offer stem cell therapy, which is a permanent and usually pain-free way to cure chronic pain. Although the process does require that we obtain blood cell marrow or placental cells, we take care to offer treatments that bring you as little discomfort as possible. For Rheumatoid Arthritis patients, this means that these treatments offer hope to those with unmet and untreatable symptoms. Our goal is to optimize your pain relief and ensure permanent change. Although our stem cell therapy methods are relatively new to the field of medicine, we have full confidence in our highly-trained and knowledgeable medical professionals.

At Neo Matrix Medical, our Rheumatoid Arthritis treatments lower the chances of complications that surgery and other practices cannot guarantee. They also offer relief for patients who are not responding to drug treatments, as well as faster results than most other treatment options. Our stem cell therapy treatments work where other methods do not because the stem cells we use have distinct immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties that repair and regenerate damaged tissues. Stem cell therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis is being studied for efficacy in improving the complications in patients through the use of their own stem cells. Stem cell therapies may help patients who don’t respond to typical drug treatment, patients who want to reduce their reliance on medication, or are looking to try stem cell therapy before starting drug treatment.

In the end, stem cell therapy is becoming a renowned and more efficient method of curing many ailments. We are confident that our treatment options could be the methods you need to relieve your painful Rheumatoid Arthritis pain. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our medical professionals today, or stop in to consult with with our knowledgeable staff. At Neo Matrix Medical, our mission to help you live a happy and healthy life. Try stem cell therapy today!

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Finding a Cure for an Incurable Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a debilitating condition of movement disorder that is both chronic and progressive, only getting worse with time. It is a neuro degenerative disease characterized by low dopamine levels. This is caused by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, part of the midbrain that helps govern reward and movement. The exact cause of this degeneration remains uncertain.

The low levels of dopamine lead to improper functioning of the nigrostriatal pathway, one of the major dopaminergic pathways in the brain connecting the substantia nigra with the dorsal striatum. The pathway is involved in modulation of the extrapyramidal system which exerts a measure of control over bodily movements.

People with Parkinson’s disease experience gradual loss of control over bodily movements affecting how they move, speak and write. Symptoms start from something as simple as slight tremors and may gradually develop into bad posture, stiffness, slow movement, difficulty walking, amnesia and dementia among many other enervating conditions which keep getting worse. Patients may have to struggle enormously to make basic movements and often experience moments of “freezing” where they cannot move at all. Early symptoms may go unnoticed.

In order to understand Parkinson’s disease, you need to accustom yourself with a few things

 

Dopamine

The unmitigated role of dopamine is still being explicated. What we know is that it functions as a neurotransmitter, meaning that it is released by nerve cells or neurons and received by other neurons completing the transmission of signals between the cells. Dopamine travels between cells in certain neural pathways in the brain called the dopaminergic pathways which are neuromodulatory in nature which is to say that they are ‘broadcast’ over a region rather than targeted at particular adjacent neurons. It also means that they affect the behavior of the receiving neurons for longer owing to their interaction with metabrotopic or G-protein neuroreceptors, transmitting signals that neither excite nor inhibit.

The dopaminergic pathways are found to be associated with cognitive processes of reward, motivation, pleasure, attention, motor activity and associative learning. Dopamine also helps govern functions of arousal and pain sensitivity. An issue with these functions could lead to an array of disorders including but definitely not limited to ADHD, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease.

 

Neurons

Neurons and glial cells are what the brain is primarily composed of. While glial cells provide structural and metabolic support, insulation, regulate the brain’s network and far outnumber neurons while also preserving their functioning, it is the neurons that perform the heavy tasks of the brain including speech, movement, learning, motivation, and arousal.

Neurons or nerve cells send, receive and process information through electrochemical signals over long distances in the body. Neurons can be said to form the functional unit of the central nervous system in animals. The most recent plausible research suggests there are about 86 billion neurons in the brain. Anything that hampers the functioning of neurons could potentially disable a person.

 

Finding the cure

Although the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can be treated and alleviated to an extent, no cure has yet been found. Conventional treatments include administration of drug Levodopa and deep-brain stimulation.

Levodopa or L-DOPA can be synthesized in a lab and is able to cross the blood-brain barrier. It is converted into dopamine by an enzyme called aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase or AADC, temporarily increasing dopamine concentrations to alleviate symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

However, over time its effectiveness decreases. Moreover, the administration of L-DOPA diminishes the body’s ability to create it naturally resulting in more movement disorders, making the situation only worse.

In cases where drugs are not very effective, patients may undergo surgery to implant electrodes that stimulate the deep brain. While these treatments relieve the symptoms, they are ineffective in slowing down or stopping the progress of Parkinson’s disease and dopamine cells within the substantia nigra keep dying.

Scientists have been trying for years to grow dopamine-producing nerve cells using stem cells in the lab so they may be able to replace the lost neurons with new, healthy ones. Recently, scientists at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia have achieved something extraordinary and given us new hope.

The neuroscientists have injected stem cells into the brain of a 64-year-old Victorian man over an 8-hour-long surgery. The man whose identity remains private suffers from Parkinson’s disease. It is hoped that the cells will develop into dopamine-producing neurons in his brain.

In this experimental, first-of-its-kind surgery, two 1.5cm holes were drawn in the skull of the patient through which millions of pluripotent stem cells were transplanted at 14 injection sites, 7 on each side of the brain. The surgery had shown great promise in preclinical trials and is expected to slow the progress of the disease in the patient, if not completely cure it.

The patient was discharged within 72 hours after a 24 hour later scan after the surgery that revealed no complications. The patient will be scanned at 6 and 12 months to see if the stem cells have transformed into dopaminergic neurons.

The risks of such an operation run high with high chances of paralysis, stroke or even death but the prospect of reversing the damage of Parkinson’s disease is splendid, if not game-changing! This hope is garnered by the efforts of neurologist Andrew Evans and neurosurgeon Girish Nair among others and will pave the way for the next step in neurological science.

The Victorian man was the first among a dozen patients chosen to undergo this revolutionary stem cell procedure at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

The results of this treatment will be validated in two years. For more information on stem cell therapy and research, visit Neo Matrix Medical.

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REMEDY FOR A BROKEN HEART – SCIENTISTS GROW A BEATING HUMAN HEART IN A LAB

Scientist have for long been researching the employment of stem cells to cure heart diseases.

Heart disease claims more than 17 million deaths worldwide every year making it the biggest cause of death. Congenital heart defects, heart attacks and alcoholism/drug abuse continually damage the heart. While most defects gradually weaken the heart over time, heart attacks may sometimes result in sudden and detrimental damage to the heart. Damage is not limited to a specific type of cells and, thus, cannot be alleviated with simple measure. Some of the most important types of cells in the heart include cardiomyocytes (muscle cells that make the heart beat), cardiac pacemaker cells (that send and receive electrical signals to maintain rhythm) and endothelial cells (which line the blood vessels to help deliver oxygen to cardiomyocytes).

Repairing the damage to the heart would require renovation of all cell types which is an incredibly difficult feat to pull off.

This is where stem cells come in!

Stem cells have the ability to transform into different types of cells. For long now, scientists have been dreaming of creating transplantable hearts from stem cells in a lab and a group of researchers have just brought themselves one step closer to that dream by growing a beating human heart in a lab. They used pluripotent stem cells to create all types of heart cells over what they called a “scaffold” foundation.

Here is the full report by Robin Andrews from IFL Science

Right now, there are 4,186 people waiting for a heart transplant in the U.S., but with a huge donor shortage not all of these patients are likely to survive. Growing transplantable hearts in a laboratory has been a long-standing dream within the medical community, and a study in the journal Circulation Research has moved it one step closer to reality: A team of researchers have successfully grown a beating human heart in the laboratory using stem cells.

Previous research has shown how 3D printers can be used to manufacture 3D heart segments using biological material. Although vacant of any actual heart cells, these structures provided the “scaffold” on which heart tissue could be grown. Now, a team from both Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School has taken this scaffolding concept and combined it with stem cells for some truly spectacular results.

The main problem with heart transplants, other than a lack of donors, is that there’s a chance that the receiver’s body will reject the new organ. Their immune system will often register the foreign tissue as a threat, whereupon it will proceed to attack and destroy it. The only way to stop this from happening are drugs that suppress the immune system, and this is only successful in some cases.

For this study, 73 human hearts deemed unsuitable for transplantation were carefully immersed in solutions of detergent in order to strip them of any cells that would provoke this self-destructive response. What was left was a matrix (or “scaffold”) of a heart, complete with its intricate structures and vessels, providing a new foundation for new heart cells to be grown onto.

This is where pluripotent stem cells come in. These “primitive” stem cells have the ability to become almost any type of cell in the body, including bone, nerve, and even muscle – including those found in the heart.

For this research, human skin cells were reprogrammed into becoming pluripotent stem cells. They were then induced into becoming two types of heart cells, which were shown to readily develop and grow on the lab scaffold when bathed in a nutrient solution.

After just two weeks, the networks of lab-grown heart cells already resembled immature but intricately structured hearts. The team gave them a burst of electricity, and the hearts actually started beating.

Significantly, any heart cells grown in this way would be recognized by the patient’s immune system as “friendly,” as long as the original skin cells were sourced from their own body in the first place. This means that these lab-grown hearts would not be rejected and, of course, there’s no donor to wait for.

“Among the next steps that we are pursuing are improving methods to generate even more cardiac cells,” said Jacques Guyette, a biomedical researcher at the MGH Center for Regenerative Medicine and lead author of the study, in a statement. Although this study manufactured a whopping 500 million stem cell-derived heart cells for the procedure, regrowing a whole heart would actually take “tens of billions,” Guyette added.

So despite falling short of growing an entire, mature human heart in a laboratory from a patient’s own cells, this is the closest anyone has come to date to reaching this goal – and that in itself is a breathtaking achievement.

Read full post

In other news, Cenk Uygur from The Young Turks talks to doctors Todd Evans, Jim Cheung and Albano Meli about stem cell research and how it can help in curing heart defects. Watch the incredibly fascinating interview:

For more information and free report, visit Neo Matrix Medical.

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