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Stem cells are not bad in theory; they're the raw cloth from which every cell type in our bodies are made. Nosotros're learning how to brand them, and how to direct their activity once made — they ought to be absolutely owning the headlines right now. The reason stem cells have not exploded in the past few years is simple: stem cells are fragile and fickle, and information technology'south difficult to get them to do what you lot want within a real human being body. In item, stalk cells take the nasty tendency to die when you lot inject them into something — simply perhaps not for long. New research from Johns Hopkins University could let stem cells realize their potential in real-globe situations.

The study used a hydrogel to protect and nourish stem cells bound for injection and differentiation into heart muscle cells. Information technology used rats with damaged hearts and attempted to fix the impairment by injecting their cell-laced hydrogel, "re-muscularizing" the area and fixing the characteristic harm of a centre attack. The hydrogel worked like a charm; when injected into the hearts of rats, the hydrogel saw about 73% of the stem cells survive, compared with but 12% survival while suspended in a normal injection fluid.

hydrogel stem cells 2Prior studies using stalk cell injection have had to resort to specialized version of cells or cell components, or just injecting incredible numbers of the cells, but both of these approaches are costly, fourth dimension consuming, and not particularly constructive. This is currently the strategy with gene therapy equally well, to flood an area with many nonspecific actors to wash out the importance of their individual incompetence, but that's easier when you only need to brand viral capsids; stem cells are whole cells, and it'south unlikely we'll ever get to a signal where information technology's particularly quick or easy to grow them by the billions.

This hydrogel allows the cells to alive and grow, installing themselves in the body and integrating healthily. Centre-damaged rats injected with hydrogel-loaded stem cells saw a 15% increase in pumping efficiency for the treated ventricle, compared with only 8% for regularly stem jail cell therapies. The team did not invent a treatment for this heart illness, but a booster pack that lets a preexisting treatment really kick into high gear. Information technology can support both developed and embryonic stem cells, and if it'due south non put within a living being, the hydrogel can actually maintain 100% of the stalk cells it contains.

Hydrogels are mostly water -- just like you and me.

Hydrogels are mostly water — just similar you and me.

This comes soon after a split up team from Harvard Academy announced their porous hydrogel could also attain huge increases in the effectiveness of stem cell therapies. That study looked a bone repair, only the thought is broadly similar: improve the effectiveness by increasing the number of stem cells that survive to enact their programming.

An experimental optical hydrogel implant.

An experimental optical hydrogel implant.

Hydrogels are useful in biology because they're much like us — fabricated mostly of hydro. They're intrinsically condom for use with biology, and biomedical engineers are even looking into using them as a bio-condom internal optical network. In fact, this study found that injectingjust the hydrogel, with no stem cells at all, had a mild do good all its own by seeming to promote claret vessel growth.

These are the sorts of breakthroughs that will permit the incredible but limited stem cell technologies of today to go the incredible, unlimited stem jail cell technologies of tomorrow.