Stem Cells From Amniotic Fluid May Revolutionize Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative therapy is now attainable for soft tissue injuries and cartilage defects with amniotic fluid based stem cell treatments.

In the past couple of years, stem cell therapy has been brought to the forefront of medicine. Most therapy is done through a technique called Platelet Rich Plasma, better known as PRP. This technique is drawing the patients own blood and running it through a centrifuge to collect the available cells in the blood draw. After collection and processing, the concentrated blood is re-injected into the designated site for therapy. PRP therapy usually consists of a series of injections, approximately 3, over a designated time frame.

While PRP has had some success, there are significant downsides to the treatment. The overall stem cell quantity number available with this treatment is much less than what is seen with other injection substances. Also adult stem cells do not always maintain the unlimited potential to differentiate into all human cell types, like bone, tendon, cartilage, or muscle.

Each person is born with a particular amount of stem cells at birth, about 1 in 10,000 cells. At the age of 30 this drops precipitously down to 1 in 250,000 cells. By age 50 it continues to drop, reaching 1 in 400,000 cells. The next exponential drop occurs by age 80, when there are only 1 in 2 million cells are stem cells, according to Caplan in Clinics in Plastic Surgery.

Treatments that are amniotic fluid stem cell injections based are the next step in effective regenerative treatment. Amniotic fluid not only contains an incredible amount of stem cells, it also contains a complete biological system that adds to the benefits. Amniotic fluid has been shown to be a rich source of multipotent stem cells, proteins, and growth factors vital for fetal development and growth. Medical research shows that the presence of these cells gives ancillary clinical benefits by enhancing the body’s natural regenerative process while filling soft tissue defects.

Amniotic fluid contains no fetal tissue, so no ethical concerns exist while multipotent stem cells are still present. These cells remain undifferentiated and maintain the capacity to turn into bone, muscle, or cartilage cells. The downside with embryonic stem cells is they may for too many cells and overdo it into tumors, while amniotic fluid stem cells do not have that capacity.

Current research has shown that cytokines, hyaluronic acids, growth factors, and stem cells present in amniotic fluid tissue stimulate the repair or modulate the local microenvironment by enhancing the body’s natural regenerative process and hopefully allowing damaged tissue to undergo regeneration.

Right now treatments offered consist of tissue repair or removal, such as with surgery or letting the body try and heal itself. For instance, with a cartilage defect in the knee the natural process it fills in with fibrocartilage. This is not real cartilage and does not maintain the protective qualities as native cartilage. Injecting an amniotic fluid based stem cell treatment by a pain management doctors in Arizona could allow real native cartilage to fill in and prevent later joint degeneration. Another example would be a meniscal tear, where the most well known treatment is shaving the tear off with arthroscopic surgery. The meniscus is the shock absorber for the knee, and taking out too much can lead to premature arthritis. It would be better to promote regeneration.

There are many potentical clinical treatment options with stem cells, and the multiple benefits seen with amniotic fluid’s ingredients may provide a key treatment option for regenerative medicine at a Phoenix chiropractic office.

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