Haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells have been successfully used for autologous and al- logeneic transplantations for many years. Quantitative and qualitative laboratory assays allow controlling ...di erent cellular products during collection, concentration and preservation. The in- formation about cell number, viability, functionality and purity of the gra ensure safe applica- tion and help predict the likelihood of successful engra ment. Almost 50 years of research have disclosed the great heterogeneity of cells that exhibit a haematopoietic di erentiation potential. This will enable the identification of subpopulations within the population of CD34-positive ha- ematopoietic stem cells.
Background: In different human adult tissues and organs embryonic-like stem cells have already been found. A question is whether they are present also in the adult human ovary. In this study we tried ...to find whether embryonic-like stem cells are present in the ovarian surface epithe- lium of women with premature ovarian failure, and whether these cells can differentiate into oocytes by in vitro culture. Methods: In 10 women with premature ovarian failure the ovarian surface epithelium was laparo- scopically scraped. We tried to immunomagnetically isolate embryonic-like stem cells from the suspension of scraped cells and to confirm their existence immunocytochemically by the expression of the markers c-kit and surface antigen SSEA-4, characteristic of pluripotent stem cells. In the lab, we tried to differentiate stem cells into oocytes in a cell culture medium with added heterologous follicular fluid from the in vitro fertilization programme, which is rich in substances, and important for oocyte growth and maturation. The differentiation of oocyte-like cells was screened. Oocyte-like cells were isolated from the cell culture and im- munocytochemically stained for oocyte-specific markers (c-kit, VASA, ZP2-zona pellucida). Oocyte-like cells were analyzed for the expression of oocyte-specific genes (Oct-4A, ZP3, c-kit, SCP-3) by single-cell PCR. Results: From the ovarian surface epithelium of all patients small yellow coloured cells with diam- eters of 2 to 4 μm and positive for markers of pluripotent stem cells were isolated. In the lab, these cells were cultured into oocyte-like cells with diameter ranging from 60 to 80 μm. Some of oocyte-like cells were positive for oocyte-specific markers and expressed the genes, characteristic of oocytes, including meiotic genes. Conclusions: In patients with premature ovarian failure it is possible to culture oocyte-like cells from ovarian surface epithelium stem cells. Intense research is needed to evaluate the quality of oocyte-like cells developed in vitro and to estimate their potential use for in vitro fertilization in the far future.
Background. For one third of all women urinary incontinence is a health problem. Different strategies of treatment have been used, namely surgical, medical and physiotherapy. To this armamentarium a ...new method – adult stem cells therapy – has been added. Methods. The source of adult autologues multipotent stem cells consists of muscle-derived stem cells, adipose-derived stem cells and mesenchymed bone marrow cells. In facilities for stem cells with processing and in the presence of specific inducing factors, muscle derived stem cells can be differentiated to striated or smooth muscles. Clinical work is based on animal models that with immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated new skeletal-muscle fiber formation at the site of injection of stem cells. In stress urinary incontinence (SUI) autologues bioptic material is obtained by using a musle needle biopsy device. From the biopsy speciment with dissociation muscle-derived stem cells are isolated and injected under local anaesthesia in the middle urethra and/or external urethral sphincter. Initial results of SUI treatment with adult muscle-derived stem cells suggest that perspectives of this method are encouraging. Conclusions. Stem cell therapy is promising to become minimally invasive method for reconstruction of the muscles and connective tissue of urethra and external urethral sphincter.
Izhodišča: Amnijska membrana (AM) je notranja stran posteljice, ki obdaja in ščiti zarodek. AM je večplastna struktura, ki je sestavljena iz amnijskih epitelijskih celic, amnijskih mezenhimskih ...stromalnih celic, bazalne lamine in vezivnega tkiva. Iz njene zgradbe izhajajo tudi lastnosti AM, zaradi katerih se že vrsto let uporablja v terapevtske namene, predvsem v oftalmologiji, saj pospešuje epitelizacijo, deluje kot substrat za celice, zmanjšuje fibrozo in neovaskularizacijo tkiva ter deluje protimikrobno. Zaradi mehanskih lastnosti AM, ki so posledica predvsem molekul zunajceličnega matriksa bazalne lamine in vezivnega tkiva, se AM v zadnjih letih vedno pogosteje uporablja tudi kot biološki nosilec v regenerativni medicini. Zaključki: Regenerativna medicina je interdisciplinarno področje raziskav in kliničnih aplikacij, ki uporablja načela bioloških in inženirskih znanosti za razvoj živih tkivnih ali organskih nadomestkov. V regenerativni medicini ločimo tri pristope: 1) vsaditev funkcionalnih celic, med drugim tudi matičnih celic, v poškodovano ali okvarjeno tkivo, 2) uporaba različnih sintetičnih materialov ali materialov naravnega izvora, ki pomagajo pri ponovnem oblikovanju poškodovanega ali okvarjenega tkiva in 3) tkivno inženirstvo, tj. uporaba ustreznih nosilcev, ki spodbujajo rast tkivno specifičnih celic in oblikovanje novega tkiva. V prispevku predstavljamo tudi uporabo amnijske membrane kot biološkega nosilca v regenerativni medicini v Sloveniji.
Rak mlečne žleze je najpogostejša oblika raka pri ženskah, zelo pogost pa je tudi pri nekaterih vrstah domačih živali (psi, mačke). Vse najnovejše raziskave s področja biologije mlečne žleze ...podpirajo hipotezo rakave matične celice, po kateri naj bi tumor izviral iz matične celice mlečne žleze ali njenih zgodnjih potomk. Tumorji nastanejo zaradi napake v uravnavanju sicer natančno kontroliranega procesa samoobnavljanja matičnih celic, kar je njihova temeljna lastnost. Tak tumor vsebuje subpopulacijo celic z lastnostmi matičnih celic, ki omogočajo razvoj in diferenciacijo tumorja ter prispevajo k celični heterogenosti. Vlogo rakavih matičnih celic v rakavem tkivu lahko primerjamo z vlogo normalnih matičnih celic v zdravem tkivu. Njihov obstoj je bil sprva dokazan pri krvnem raku, kasneje pa še pri malignih spremembah kompaktnih tkiv: možgan, prostate, debelega črevesa, trebušne slinavke in mlečne žleze. Identifikacija matičnih celic v zdravem in tumorskem tkivu mlečne žleze je razkrila vzroke za molekularno kompleksnost raka mlečne žleze pri ljudeh in živalih. Hipoteza rakave matične celice ima pomembno vlogo pri zgodnjem odkrivanju in zdravljenju dedne in sporadične oblike raka dojke pri ženskah. Matične celice z okvarjenim mehanizmom samoobnavljanja so odporne na obsevanje in kemoterapijo in zato predstavljajo osrednjo tarčo pri razvoju novih zdravil in strategij za zdravljenje raka dojke.
Aneuploidy means any karyotype that is not euploid, anything that stands outside the norm. Two particular characteristics make the research of aneuploidy challenging. First, it is often hard to ...distinguish what is a cause and what is a consequence. Secondly, aneuploidy is often associated with a persistent defect in maintenance of genome stability. Thus, working with aneuploid, unstable cells means analyzing an ever changing creature and capturing the features that persist. In the book Aneuploidy in Health and Disease we summarize the recent advances in understanding the causes and consequences of aneuploidy and its link to human pathologies.
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