Anyone know enough to know if a similar approach has been tried for soft tissue repair (joints, tendons, ligaments, etc.)?
EG: injecting nanoparticles with suitable coatings as a way of promoting faster joint repair (hips, wrists, shoulders, etc.).
EG: injecting nanoparticles with suitable coatings as a way of promoting faster joint repair (hips, wrists, shoulders, etc.).
Its unfortunate that because of the laws against the uses human stem cells we already miss out on a bunch of very valid and useful soft-tissue treatments!
There's actually a company that is already doing soft-tissue regeneration (specifically tendons) using autologous stem cells for dogs, very cool stuff! I'll post the link to the article if I can find it! Maybe this could be a viable alternative though!
When you hit a certain age "oh my aching joints" is far more relevant to your interests than "brains might survive motorcycle crash", though the brain stuff is admittedly cooler.
Stem cells may not necessary for soft tissue; if you could inject some time-release hormones or steroids or whatnot you might get improved results vis-a-vis what's out there now.
I totally agree that stem cells may not be needed but it would be amazing if scientists got to explore all of the possibilities, rather than just the ones people weren't afraid of for a number of un-informed reasons...