Study finds new method of using bone marrow stem cells to rapidly heal complex bone fractures

Friday, December 04, 2009 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: bone fractures, stem cells, health news

(NaturalNews) Researchers from Hebrew University (HU) in Jerusalem have discovered a new technology that isolates a person's bone marrow stem cells for use in quickly healing complicated bone fractures. In an article published in the acclaimed journal Stem Cells, the research team from the Skeletal Biotechnology Laboratory at HU successfully treated seven patients with complex bone fractures using the new method.

Mesenchymal, or multipotent stem cells (MSCs), are cells that have the ability to differentiate in various cell types as needed. They can be isolated from the various bone and fat tissues of an adult and utilized to repair all sorts of injuries, including severe bone loss.

In the past, isolating MSCs took great lengths of time as the cells had to be incubated in laboratories and sustained using expensive methods of preservation. The new method discovered by HU researchers, called immuno-isolation, allows these vital stem cells to be used immediately in a patient. Rather than take several weeks, the whole process can be completed in just a few hours.

The immuno-isolated MSCs are capable of re-growing bone tissue, repairing torn tendons, and renewing degenerate vertebral and skeletal discs. Researchers believe that people with severe skeletal fractures and badly damaged bones and tissues can benefit greatly from MSC therapy by restoring proper function to their otherwise permanent injuries.

The number of non-uniting fractures observed in the United States tops one million each year. Since such fractures are correlated with excessive bone loss, this advancement in MSC technology provides a novel healing option.

Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

Here's yet another example of advanced medical technology the world doesn't need. When people's bones don't heal after severe fractures, it's not because of a lack of stem cell technology; it's because they lack vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, strontium and other trace minerals crucial for bone repair.

The human body is quite capable of readily healing itself when given the proper nutritional support. But modern medicine is far more interested in cool-sounding, expensive and highly complex technologies than simple measures like sunshine or zinc supplements. Technology seems "advanced" while nutrition seems low-tech, but the truth is that inside the human body, the technology of automatic tissue repair is some of the coolest biological technology in the universe.

Stem cells may, indeed, have important uses for speeding nerve damage repair, for example, but it too many cases, medical researchers are invoking stem cells while ignoring the fundamentals of health that would allow patients to heal themselves without intervention.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-...