Stem Cell News You Can Use (111706)

That’s means it’s from stem cells of the “adult” variety, of course:

Adult Stem Cell Research Shows More Promise Treating Heart Attacks
November 14, 2006

Baltimore, MD (LifeNews.com) — Scientists at Johns Hopkins University continue to show the promise that adult stem cells have in treating the effects of heart attacks. The successfully grew adult stem cells from healthy heart tissue and used it to repair some of the tissue damage done to organs by heart attacks.
The researchers conducted the experiments on pigs as pigs’ hearts closely resemble those in humans, making them a useful model in such research.

Following up on previous studies, Hopkins cardiologists used a thin tube to extract samples of heart tissue no bigger than a grain of rice within hours of the animals’ heart attacks. They then grew large numbers of cardiac stem cells in the lab from tissue obtained through biopsy, and within a month implanted the cells into the pigs’ hearts.

With help from a blue-dye tracking system, the scientists have shown that within two months the cells had developed into mature heart cells and vessel-forming endothelial cells.

Eduardo Marbбn, M.D., Ph.D., senior study author and professor and chief of cardiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart Institute, says that if similar studies show the same success in humans, it would be easy to help numerous patients.