El Paso Functional Medicine
I hope you have enjoyed our blog posts on various health, nutritional and injury related topics. Please don't hesitate in calling us or myself if you have questions when the need to seek care arises. Call the office or myself. Office 915-850-0900 - Cell 915-540-8444 Great Regards. Dr. J

Stem Cells May Help Repair Torn Tendons

694

A combination of advanced scaffold material and so-called adult stem cells improves the healing of rotator cuff tendon tears over surgery alone, a study in rats suggests.

“As an orthopedic shoulder and knee surgeon and chemical engineer, I think the combination of advanced materials and adult stem cells holds great promise,” Dr. Cato T. Laurencin from University of Connecticut in Farmington told Reuters Health. “For the shoulder, we are looking next to bring this type of technology to clinical use for the treatment of partial thickness and full thickness rotator cuff tendon tears,” he said by email.

Rotator cuff tendon tears are common and often require surgical repair, but most severe tears recur and require additional surgery. Because tendons are made mainly of collagen fibers, with few cells, they have little capacity for regeneration on their own, Laurencin’s team writes in the online journal PLoS ONE.

To see if mimicking the environment in which tendons normally grow would help repaired tendons to heal better than surgery alone, the researchers tested an artificial scaffold embedded with stem cells in a rats with a surgically repaired tendon tear. They compared how well it healed to the same kind of repair in rats that had only the surgery.

The tears repaired with stitches alone continued to show disorganized tissue 12 weeks after surgery, while tendons appeared much more normal after repair using the approach that combines advanced scaffold material with cells to engineer ideal conditions for tissue regeneration.

The addition of stem cells in the matrix, or scaffold, also led to increased mechanical strength and more normal characteristics of the replacement tendon tissue, compared with suturing alone, the study authors note.

The stem cells themselves disappeared over time, suggesting that the therapeutic effect resulted from their release of growth factors or other signaling molecules, rather than from the stem cells turning into tendon.

“We believe they can change the local environment and make it more compatible for regeneration,” Laurencin said. “The stem cells don’t have to become new tissue; they can work by influencing the environment to make better, regenerated tissue. The use of a nanotechnology based matrix is important in making it happen. That’s what this study suggests.”

“We are also developing this type of technology for use in treating problems of the knee,” he noted.

“We believe that the future for tissue regeneration lies in the combination of a number of areas of science and technology: advanced materials science, stem cell science, understanding how physical forces work in regeneration, developmental biology, and clinical translation,” Laurencin said.

“The work presented here combines many elements of regenerative engineering. The real successes will see not just using stem cells alone, but the convergence of different technologies. This new direction in thinking will provide exciting new possibilities for patients in the years to come,” he said.

Post Disclaimer

Professional Scope of Practice *

The information herein on "Stem Cells May Help Repair Torn Tendons" is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional or licensed physician and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make healthcare decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified healthcare professional.

Blog Information & Scope Discussions

Our information scope is limited to Chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, contributing etiological viscerosomatic disturbances within clinical presentations, associated somatovisceral reflex clinical dynamics, subluxation complexes, sensitive health issues, and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions.

We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from various disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system.

Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and directly or indirectly support our clinical scope of practice.*

Our office has reasonably attempted to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.

We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez, DC, or contact us at 915-850-0900.

We are here to help you and your family.

Blessings

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, RN*, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

Licensed as a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) in Texas & New Mexico*
Texas DC License # TX5807, New Mexico DC License # NM-DC2182

Licensed as a Registered Nurse (RN*) in Florida
Florida License RN License # RN9617241 (Control No. 3558029)
License Compact Status: Multi-State License: Authorized to Practice in 40 States*
Presently Matriculated: ICHS: MSN* FNP (Family Nurse Practitioner Program)

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, RN* CIFM*, IFMCP*, ATN*, CCST
My Digital Business Card