If a leg is to be amputated with no recourse, injected stem cells could assist in reviving circulation in the affected leg. Thus stem cells offer immense hope to scientists, when the situation has turned hopeless for the patient.
Now, scientists have explored the potential of stem cells to cure a sick heart. As per recent experiments on animals, it came to light, that special class of stem cells from human embryos, called hemangioblast cells are capable of repairing blood vessels.Enthused by this finding, American scientists have begun preparing to test the efficacy of stem cells to treat diabetics, heart attack victims and other ailments which would need new blood vessels to rectify the ailing body.
Further, stem cells can also be employed to train the immune system to accept the laboratory-grown cells used for repair. This will eventually help in phasing out the contentious cloning methods.
Dr Robert Lanza, a senior author, said, “Stem cells show an amazing ability to repair vascular damage in animals.”
Vice-president of research and scientific development at Advanced Cell Technology, said, “We also have studies under way indicating that the cells can also considerably accelerate wound healing and repair lung damage. We might also be able to use them to treat strokes and complications of diabetes."
Source-Medindia
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