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Tonsil stem cells could someday help repair liver damage without surgery

Date:
September 24, 2014
Source:
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Summary:
The liver provides critical functions, such as ridding the body of toxins. Its failure can be deadly, and there are few options for fixing it. But scientists now report a way to potentially inject stem cells from tonsils, a body part we don't need, to repair damaged livers — all without surgery.
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The liver provides critical functions, such as ridding the body of toxins. Its failure can be deadly, and there are few options for fixing it. But scientists now report in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a way to potentially inject stem cells from tonsils, a body part we don't need, to repair damaged livers -- all without surgery.

Byeongmoon Jeong and colleagues point out that currently, the only established method for treating liver failure or severe cases of liver disease is complete or partial transplantation. But the need is much greater than the number of available organs. Plus, surgery has inherent risks and a hefty price tag. A promising alternative in development is transplanting liver cells. One such approach involves using adult stem cells to make liver cells. Stem cells from bone marrow could be used, but they have limitations. Recently, scientists identified another source of adult stem cells that could be used for this purpose -- tonsils. Every year, thousands of surgeries are performed to remove tonsils, and the tissue is discarded. Now it could have a new purpose, but scientists needed a way to grow them on a 3-D scaffold that mimics real liver tissue. Jeong's team set out to do just that.

The researchers encapsulated tonsil-derived stem cells in a heat-sensitive liquid that turns into a gel at body temperature. They added substances called growth factors to encourage the stem cells to become liver cells. Then, they heated the combination up to a normal body temperature. The result was a 3-D, biodegradable gel that contained functioning liver cells. The researchers conclude that the same process has promise -- with some further tweaking for ideal conditions -- as an injectable tissue engineering technique to treat liver disease without surgery.


Story Source:

Materials provided by American Chemical Society (ACS). Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Seung-Jin Kim, Min Hee Park, Hyo Jung Moon, Jin Hye Park, Du Young Ko, Byeongmoon Jeong. Polypeptide Thermogels As a 3D Culture Scaffold for Hepatogenic Differentiation of Human Tonsil-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2014; 140905122318006 DOI: 10.1021/am504652y

Cite This Page:

American Chemical Society (ACS). "Tonsil stem cells could someday help repair liver damage without surgery." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 September 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140924112832.htm>.
American Chemical Society (ACS). (2014, September 24). Tonsil stem cells could someday help repair liver damage without surgery. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140924112832.htm
American Chemical Society (ACS). "Tonsil stem cells could someday help repair liver damage without surgery." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140924112832.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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