3 FAQs When It Comes to Adult Stem Cell Therapy

Also known as regenerative medicine, adult stem cell therapy is a promising type of medicine that has the potential to treat disease and heal certain types of injuries. To help you better understand adult stem therapy, here are the answers to three frequently asked questions.

What Are Stem Cells?

Did you know that there are over 200 different types of cells in the human body? These cells are categorized as either unspecialized or specialized. Some examples of specialized cells are skin cells, blood cells, and muscle cells. Basically this type of cell carries out a specific function, which means it cannot be manipulated to do a job other than what it was created to do.

Unspecialized cells, on the other hand, can be manipulated to carry out other functions. These types of cells are also called stem cells. There are three main types of stem cells including:

• Embryonic stem cells - cells found inside a pre-implantation embryos
• Adult stem cells - sometimes called tissue-specific cells or somatic stem cells, which can generate different cell types
• Induced pluripotent stem cells - cells that get engineered in a lab

All three of these types of unspecialized cells are used in stem cell therapy.

What is Stem Cell Therapy?

Stem cell therapy is similar to getting an organ transplant. Instead of an organ, such as a liver or kidney, getting replaced, however, cells are being transferred. These cells are taken from the body and are also grown in labs, where they divide and renew themselves.

Stem cells can also be manipulated to evolve into nerve cells, heart muscle cells, and other types of cells that might be needed. These specialized cells can then get implanted via a stem cell injection, which can help heal that particular part of the body.

What Types of Diseases or Injuries Can Stem Cells Help Treat?

When certain parts of the body get injured, a stem cell injection can help to heal that part of the body. Some of the injuries stem cells can help to treat include injuries to the articular cartilage, tendons, ligaments, and the spine. There is also much research being done on how adult stem cell therapy can be used to treat certain diseases.

Some of the diseases it has the potential to treat include:

• Different types of cancers
• Autoimmune diseases
• Damage to the heart
• Liver disease

It should be noted that while researchers are making progress in the area of adult stem therapy, there is still much to learn about how these cells can be safely used to treat disease. Contact a stem cell therapy clinic, like Glory Wellness Center and Weight Loss Clinic, to see if stem cell therapy is right for you.