Regenerative medicine

A closer look at stem cells
 

Imagine stem cells as little, diligent workers doing everything they can to keep the body functioning properly. Embryonic stem cells are all-powerful. They can form any tissue or organ. Adult stem cells, however, are produced throughout our lives. They are called multipotent because they can form only certain tissues, and their effectiveness is already limited. Nevertheless, they remain an important source of regeneration and self-renewal in our bodies. In adulthood, the largest sources of stem cells are bone marrow and adipose tissue.

They are also normally found in peripheral blood, but in numbers too small for regenerative purposes.

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The future of preventive medical science in the third millennium

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How did it all begin?

The pioneers of cell therapy include Switzerland’s Clinique La Prairie, founded in 1931 by Dr. Paul Niehans.

From the outset, the clinic operated as a spa and health center that, among other things, offered treatment using stem cell extracts obtained from various tissues of sheep and sheep embryos. Fresh animal stem cells—over time, primarily cells obtained from the liver tissue of sheep embryos—were administered to patients as a rejuvenating agent that stimulated their immune system and supported recovery. This anti-aging method produced unexpected results and gradually became known around the world as revitalization.

Over the course of its more than eighty years in operation, the clinic’s clients have included many well-known figures, among them Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, and Charles de Gaulle.

A remedy in your own fat

It may come as a shock, but the remedy is found right inside our own bodies—in the fat that so often troubles us in certain areas. So-called mesenchymal stem cells can form a new blood vessel, cartilage, or even a nerve cell, repairing the damage that aging has caused in our bodies. They are collected from adipose tissue through painless tumescent liposuction. The procedure therefore requires only local anesthesia and does not unnecessarily burden the body with general anesthesia.

Working precisely where needed

The advantage of stem cell therapy is that the cells reach the target cell and act exactly where their effect is expected. They do not act elsewhere, minimizing unwanted side effects.

A therapy popular with celebrities

Many film stars and celebrities who simply have to maintain their youthful looks and vitality undergo stem cell treatment today. They include the controversial beauty Kim Kardashian, tennis star Rafael Nadal, and actress Suzanne Somers, who became famous for the sitcom Step by Step. And do you remember the handsome Superman actor Christopher Reeve, who was left paralyzed throughout the lower half of his body after an unfortunate fall from a horse? He, too, took a great interest in the use of stem cells, convinced that they would enable him to walk again.

There are examples from the past, too: Charlie Chaplin, the most famous star of slapstick comedy, underwent stem cell therapy. At a Swiss clinic, he was treated with stem cells obtained from sheep tissue, and, in his own words, this therapy enabled him to marry and have children after the age of seventy.