(Press-News.org) Researchers at the University of Liverpool have developed new methods to track stem cells and further understanding of what happens to them after they have been in the body for a significant period of time.
Stem cells are used to treat conditions such as leukaemia and have the potential to treat many more diseases and disorders where patient survival is reliant on organ and tissue donation. Currently, however, it is difficult for medics to establish whether stem cells have survived following transplantation in the body and if they reach their target site or migrate elsewhere.
In order to track stem cells in the body scientists use superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) to 'label' the cells before they are administered into the patient. These particles can be picked up by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and help medics establish if the stem cells reach their intended target. Conditions within the body's cells, however, can lead to the degradation of SPIONs and reduce the ability of MRI scans to pick up on their signal in the long-term.
Scientists at Liverpool are developing methods to visualise SPIONs in the cells before they enter the body to learn where the particles are going within the stem cell and help predict how they might perform once they are inside the body over a long period of time. They are using a photothermal technique, a unique optical imaging system, to improve SPION labelling so that particles survive for longer and have minimal impact on the function of the transplanted cells.
Dr Lara Bogart, from the University's Institute of Integrative Biology, said: "Stem cells have the potential to replace and repair damaged tissue to preclude the need for a patient to wait for an organ or tissue transplant. Research is ongoing into how it could be used to treat a wide variety of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and type one diabetes.
"In order to fully explore this potential, however, more technological developments are needed to understand how stem cells behave in the body after transplantation. If we can't monitor stem cells effectively, it can have serious implications for patient health. Studies have already shown that if cells migrate to the circulatory system, beyond their target organ or tissue site, then it can cause inflammation in the body.
"Labelling stem cells is hugely valuable to tracking their movements in the body, but we need to know more about how the particles used interact with stem cells. Using new imaging systems we can work out their precise location in the cell and how they behave over time. We hope to use this information to improve understanding of the MRI signal that tracks SPIONs once stem cells have been transplanted."
###The research, supported by Engineering and Physical Research Council (EPSRC), is published in the journal, ACS Nano. The full article can be accessed on the journal website at: http://pubs.acs.org/journal/ancac3
Research could help track stem cells in the body
2012-06-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
A better way to help high-risk pregnant smokers
2012-06-22
Cigarette smoking among drug dependent pregnant women is alarmingly high, estimated at 77 to 99%. Programs that treat pregnant patients for substance use disorders often fail to address cigarette smoking despite the clear risks to both mother and child, including ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, preterm delivery, low birth weight, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. However, programs to help people quit smoking do not seem to interfere with drug abuse treatment, and may actually improve drug abstinence rates.
One of the most effective methods of helping people ...
Neiker-Tecnalia identifies antitumour proteins in the latex of the plant Euphorbia trigona
2012-06-22
The purified proteins by the Department of Biotechnology of Neiker-Tecnalia have demonstrated their ability to inhibit the growth of several tumor cell lines. This property shows that the latex proteins of this plant, which is very prolific and easily acclimated, could be considered in clinical trials for cancer treatment due to its anti-tumor activity. The research has been done in collaboration with the University of Oviedo (Spain) and with funding from the Department for the Environment, Territorial Planning, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Government of the Basque ...
Graphene Research: Trapping light in a carbon net
2012-06-22
Graphene, an ordered monolayer of carbon, is the thinnest substance known, and yet has extraordinary mechanical strength. A new study shows that its two-dimensional network of atoms can even trap light.
Thin, thinner, graphene. Graphene, a monolayer of carbon in which the atoms are arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb network, is the thinnest net in the world, is highly stable. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010 for their discovery of the electrical conductivity of graphene. Indeed, graphene could in future replace silicon ...
Blood test for pregnant women could predict risk of having dangerously small babies
2012-06-22
Researchers from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) have found a protein in the blood of pregnant women that can predict if they are likely to have a fetus that doesn't grow properly, and thus has a high risk of stillbirth and long-term health complications. The research, led by Dr. Andrée Gruslin, could lead to a widely available blood test and could help develop ways for improving the outcomes of women and their children who face this risk — estimated to be as many as one of every 20 pregnancies.
Dr. Gruslin's study, ...
Study suggests poor mothers favor daughters
2012-06-22
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Poor mothers will invest more resources in daughters, who stand a greater chance of increasing their status through marriage than do sons, suggests a study in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Masako Fujita, Michigan State University anthropologist, and her fellow researchers tested the breast milk of mothers in northern Kenya and found that poor mothers produced fattier milk for their daughters than for their sons.
On the contrary, mothers who were better off financially favored sons over daughters.
The results, also featured in ...
Surgical 'sling' reduces risk of weakened bladder control after prolapse surgery, U-M study says
2012-06-22
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For many adult women, supporting tissues in and around their vagina weaken to the point where the bladder and other organs descend from their normal position, creating a hernia into the vaginal wall known as pelvic organ prolapse. One in five women will undergo surgery to repair such prolapse.
Vaginal surgery is one way to correct this condition, which often comes with age, but this surgery can also unmask another problem – urinary leakage.
Now, new research by the University of Michigan Health System shows that patients who receive a mid-urethral ...
New way of monitoring environmental impact could help save rural communities in China
2012-06-22
University of Southampton researchers are pioneering a new way of measuring and monitoring the impact of industrial and agricultural development on the environment.
Working in collaboration with East China Normal University, the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology and the University of Dundee, the team has created the world's first long-term record of ecosystem health, which examines the past condition of environmental resources in China's Yangtze basin region, and helps develop forecasts for the future.
"We have examined what effect modern intensive farming ...
Selenium suppresses staph on implant material
2012-06-22
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Selenium is an inexpensive element that naturally belongs in the body. It is also known to combat bacteria. Still, it had not been tried as an antibiotic coating on a medical device material. In a new study, Brown University engineers report that when they used selenium nanoparticles to coat polycarbonate, the material of catheters and endotracheal tubes, the results were significant reductions in cultured populations of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, sometimes by as much as 90 percent.
"We want to keep the bacteria from generating ...
Limited amounts of alcohol during pregnancy do not harm children
2012-06-22
Children born by mothers who have of consumed between 1 and 6 alcohol units per week are just as intelligent and well-developed as children of abstaining mothers. Mothers who have been drinking 5 or more drinks on a single occasion a limited number of times before realizing that they were pregnant may also breathe a sigh of relief; their children have not been harmed.
These are the findings of one of the most comprehensive studies done so far in this field on a global scale. The research project has resulted in a series of papers, which will be published today in the ...
NEXT Financial Group Representatives Offer Financial Planning for Every Stage of Life
2012-06-22
In the midst of continued economic uncertainty, financial issues loom large on the minds of many Americans. According to a recent report from the Chicago Tribune, retirement planning is something that more and more Americans are beginning to think critically about. For many Americans, however, issues such as retirement savings and estate planning are daunting, at best. For this reason, many Americans are seeking the services of financial planners--and independent broker-dealer NEXT Financial Group Inc. (NEXT) is devoted to providing high standards of service and investment ...