Researches about the cellular regeneration of damaged tissue or limb require an increasing number of mother cells. However, the care that these cells require when they are taken out of the laboratory where they were processed, are really demanding, so many times when the distance between the hospital rooms and laboratories are significant, they end up causing negative changes in the transported stem cells.
Given the latent lack in hospitals and health centers removed from the cities and popular sectors, a group of Venezuelan researchers of the Unit of Cell Therapy of the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas), found an innovative invention to transport by even more 24 hours to the stem cells, from one location to another, without suffering significant damage.
The storage method consists of keeping the stem cells cultured in collagen microspheres and then being attached to a plasma clot, enriched with platelets, thus helping them to adhere easily from planned structures in their composition, and proliferate the mesenchymal, which in turn will favour the growth of these cells.
The most important test to diagnose was the “ideal” temperature to standardize the transfer process between the laboratories and the hospital. The results affirm that this should be maintained between room temperature and 37 degrees Celsius, to guarantee its full functionality (According to more than 80% of the results). However, scientific researchers say that, if the temperature at which the stem cells are does not reach 37 degrees Celsius, they will not need specialized conditioning to stay in optimal conditions.
“We can also guarantee good viability and functionality at 48 hours, but the optimal time we work with is 24 hours and the room temperature worked better than the 4 ° C” Olga Wittig, an immunologist at IVIC, explained in an interview conducted by the newspaper “El Universal.
It was announced that the implementation of the new transfer method had already been incorporated in emergency clinical cases. Without any problem, they have managed to transport the stem cells from one state to another within Venezuela, thus opening the possibility of even carrying the same between one country and another. Its low cost and ease of permits make this, not only an innovative discovery, but accessible at the same time. The experiments of transported stem cells have not only been applied in humans, they have also done it in animals with a high rate of effectiveness in their responses. Visit our website HERE
