WHICH FORMS OF STEM CELLS ARE THERE
In principle, a distinction is made between embryonic and adult stem cells, whereby the umbilical cord stem cells already belong to the group of adult stem cells.
Embryonic stem cells are the first cells that arise directly after the fusion of egg and sperm. They can develop into any of the more than 200 cell types of the body. Since the extraction ethically rightly is very critical and therefore is also very well regulated, they are mainly in the research their legitimacy.
Adult stem cells are the stem cells that are used in everyday clinical practice. They are responsible for the regeneration of special body tissue. They are present everywhere in the organism to replace damaged cells or cells degenerated by the aging process (apoptosis) and thus to support the process of regeneration. However, this process decreases in the course of life. Thus, a young person recovers faster, while the process slows down more and more with advancing age.So when we talk about stem cell therapy, it’s always using the body’s own adult stem cells.
Hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells
Roughly, adult stem cells differ in two groups. There is a large group of hematopoietic stem cells that can form any kind of blood cells, but not necessarily tissues such as skin, cartilage, nerves or muscle cells. They are found mainly in the bone marrow and the umbilical cord.Stem cells from umbilical cord blood and umbilical cord tissue are no longer embryonic but already adult, i.e. mature multipotent stem cells. However, umbilical cord contains only a very small number of stem cells at all, which are mainly attributed to the hematopoietic, i.e. hematopoietic stem cells.
There is on the other hand the large group of mesenchymal adult stem cells. They can be isolated from various tissues such as skin, muscle but also all organs. These mesenchymal stem cells are identical in their character regardless of their origin localization, so that they can replace each other at any time. The highest proportion of mesenchymal stem cells can be found in the body’s own adipose tissue. The reason for this is quite obvious: while we renew our skin regularly, for example, and need and use the local stem cells there, this is only rarely necessary for the fat, so that here lies the largest reservoir of mesenchymal stem cells.Mesenchymal stem cells have a high potential to differentiate into different cell types and tissues. They are highly anti-inflammatory and have a regenerative effect on any form of tissue. Thus, you have an inexhaustible field of indication – not only in orthopedics for the healing of cartilage, tendons, ligaments and the treatment of chronic inflammation or in wound healing but also in autoimmune or chronic inflammatory neurological diseases.