Stem Cells, Peripheral Vascular Disease
The Saturday Evening Post takes a look at ongoing work in stem cell medicine: "To administer, we basically inject the cells, or the mononuclear cell fraction containing a subpopulation of progenitor stem cells, right into the calf muscle of the affected leg that has insufficient blood flow. In the future, we plan to grow the cells in culture and increase the number of endothelial progenitor cells before injecting. Right now, we have strict limitations on what we can do from the FDA, because this is the first such study in the United States. There is evidence the injected progenitor ceils directly incorporate into new capillary beds and produce the necessary protein messengers - so-called cytokines - that induce existing blood vessels to grow."
Link: http://www.satevepost.org/issues/2005/1112/print7370833.shtml