Stem Cells for Cardiac

Today the technology of modern medical treatment has grown rapidly. Several malignancies have been known to the level of molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis. One technique that is now developing modern medicine is through stem cell therapy, especially in patients with heart disease. Application of stem cell therapy for the treatment of heart has grown by molecular biologists of medicine since the last two decades. This therapy aims to repair and regenerate damaged tissue or even the death of the heart. This therapy is not intended to replace a damaged heart with another heart or a transplant, but created new heart muscle and blood vessels of the new heart and a good healthy heart has been hurt.

Stem cells do not have a specific structure for a particular tissue. In contrast to adult stem cells or adult stem cells such as cardiac muscle cells, liver cells, kidney cells, and red blood cells is limited and not able to reproduce themselves, stem cells can grow flowers so much through the process of cell division for a long time and is cultivated in the laboratory molecular biology to be millions of new cells. Stem cells can develop into specific cell types with specific functions in tissues or organs they occupy or transdiferensiasi. Therefore, stem cells can repair or create a new network in the damaged organ. This is in contrast to adult cells that have differentiated further with perfect in body tissues and have specific functions.

Multipotent Stem Cells. (Picture from: http://biologyblog.edublogs.org/)

The results of research conducted by Deepak Srivastava and Kathryn N Ivey, published in Nature magazine, entitled "Potential of stem-cell-based Therapies for heart disease", said that stem cells are able to wander into the damaged tissue and to join with other cells in network. Researchers from the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco, California stated that if injected into the heart, these cells can lead to damaged tissue and cells turn into blood vessels or the heart of new heart muscle and other cells to join in place. Because treatment with stem cells are generally aimed at repairing and regenerating damaged tissue, the therapy is not always curative total, especially if performed for chronic degenerative diseases. Therefore, it is sometimes required repeated administration of stem cells with close monitoring.

Pluripotent Stem Cells. (Picture from: http://www.topnews.in/)

So far, stem cells or stem cells can be obtained from various sources, ie embryonic stem cells derived from the cell mass of blastocysts embrici well developed and capable of extraordinary or differentiate adult stem cells. For the treatment of heart disease, stem cells taken from bone marrow into peripheral blood circulation, making them easier retrieved after stimulated by certain drugs. Stem cells can also be obtained from skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, and umbilical cord. Benefits of using stem cells from the patient's own body such as the absence of rejection problem of the cell body.

The most frequently used method to deliver stem cells is to inject stem cells directly into the coronary arteries. This method is easy, safe, relatively inexpensive, and good for patients with cardiac infarction that has been botched having percutaneous coronary intervention and stenting of the arteries that previously closed time of the attack, while the other method is to inject stem cells directly into heart muscle. For this, stem cells can be injected with open surgery. This method is highly invasive, expensive, high risk, and not all regions of the heart can be achieved. Another way is injected through a catheter that is inserted into the heart chambers.

In a publication in the magazine Nature, Deepak Srivastava and Kathryn N Ivey explained, the method of treatment of heart with stem cells is conducted in 4 phases. 

• First, in the narrowed vessel fitted with a special balloon is inflated to open blocked blood vessels and stents.
• Second, in the treatment of cardiovascular disease used adult stem cells taken from bone marrow. Bone marrow can be stimulated to release stem cells into the blood stream making it easier to take.
• Third, purified and isolated stem cells from blood components. These processes use tools averesis colored. Through this tool, purified and concentrated stem cells so small that the volume is easily inserted into the patient.
• Fourth, stem cells injected into the arteries that supply blood to the heart via catheterization. Catheter or thin plastic tube is inserted a long and flexible in the groin or arm to reach the aorta, the estuary of the heart or coronary arteries, then stem cells can be injected through the catheter.

In another research report, conducted by CL Cai and colleagues entitled Isl1 identifies a cardiac progenitor population proliferates prior to differentiation That and contributes a majority of cells to the heart of the journal Dev. Cell of 2003 stated that there is a new system of administration of stem cells in the heart, namely by using a mapping tool in a very precise area of ​​cardiac stem cell therapy is needed so that the catheter can be directed to the right so that the injection of very pointed at the target location.

The cardiac progenitor cells described by Laugwitz et al.4 can renew themselves and develop into heart muscle cells; they are distinguished by the presence of the islet-1 (isl1) protein. Cardiac stem cells6-8 can divide and develop into several cell types. These cells express proteins typical of stem cells from other organs (c-kit and Sca-1), and do not express isl1. (Picture from: http://www.nature.com/)

Development of medical research with the modification of treatment techniques and the development of new methods actually very forward rapidly. *** [JOHANIS NGILI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 050321012]

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