Suffering through a stroke or heart attack, while definitely survivable, can take a tremendous toll on the overall well-being of the heart. It can cause heart scarring which can lead to the thinning of the heart walls and a lessened ability to pump blood throughout the body. Post-heart attack hearts will never fully return to their previous condition. However, a new treatment developed at Tel Aviv University (TAU) by Professor Uri Oron using stem cells has the ability to restore heart function and health.
Suffering through a stroke or heart attack, while definitely survivable, can take a tremendous toll on the overall well-being of the heart. It can cause heart scarring which can lead to the thinning of the heart walls and a lessened ability to pump blood throughout the body. Post-heart attack hearts will never fully return to their previous condition. However, a new treatment developed at Tel Aviv University (TAU) by Professor Uri Oron using stem cells has the ability to restore heart function and health.
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The treatment utilizes bone marrow stem cells treated with low-level lasers. Oron calls the process "shining". The heart does contain a limited amount of stem cells, but they do not have the ability to repair the scarring on their own. The TAU researcher had to look elsewhere for the proper stem cells, and found them in the bone marrow. The stem cells are harvested and inserted into the heart muscle.
However, the stem cells alone could not repair the scarring. Professor Oron decided to use a low level laser to stimulate the stem cells both prior to inserting them into the heart, and then directly in the heart. He then found a much simpler way by simply "shining" the stem cells directly in the bone marrow. The activated bone marrow stem cells then take to the blood stream and eventually wind up at the heart. Once there, the stem cells can use their healing qualities on the heart scarring and help the growth of new arteries. All of this will lead to healthier blood flow.
Experiments were conducted on animals using stem cells injected with a fluorescent marker so they could be seen. The stem cell population was found to increase within the heart, specifically around the damaged region of the heart. The stem cells treated with lasers showed a much higher concentration than those which were not shined. Oron found that after shining the cells with the laser for a few hours, heart scarring was reduced up to 80 percent.
"After we stimulate the cells with the laser and enhance their proliferation in the bone marrow, it's likely that more cells will migrate into the bloodstream. The cells that eventually reach the heart secrete growth factors to a higher extent, and new blood vessel formation is encouraged," Prof. Oron theorizes.
The non-invasive approach using the laser is proven to be a safer and quicker method than harvesting stem cells are re-inserting them. This "shining" treatment can stimulate a large variety of stem cells to help heal the body, much more efficient than a single-cell type treatment. The method has the potential to be applied to damaged tissue in other organs such as the liver and kidneys.
Professor Oron's new method is now ready for clinical trial. His work has been reported in the journal Lasers in Surgery and Medicine.
Link to published article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lsm.21063/abstract.
Image credit: http://whatisthetrend.net/studies-reveal-two-new-methods-to-heal-damaged-heart-tissues-20102590.html
