Chula scientists develop cardiac tissue from embryonic stem-cells
Embryonic stem cells are being developed into cardiac muscle tissue in promising new research currently being done in Thailand.
Conducted at the Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, the project has already moved beyond the experimental stage.
“Within three years, this project is expected to successfully turn embryonic stem cells into cardiac muscle tissue,” said Assoc Prof Kamthorn Pruksananonda, who heads the stem-cell development research project.
If the project completes its intended goals, it will enable doctors to provide cardiac muscle tissue to patients in the very near future, said Kamthorn, adding that four doctors and scientists were involved in the project.
According to Kamthorn, embryonic stem cells can be developed into a variety of different cells, including nerve cells.
“Embryonic stem cells are better than adult stem cells because they can be manipulated and used to produce a variety of cells, and thus have numerous benefits,” he said.
Kamthorn disclosed that the Bank of Embryos, Stem Cells and Sperm at the faculty’s Chulalongkorn Hospital had over one million embryonic stem cells.
“There are five strains in all,” he said.
He also disclosed that the bank had about 3,000 frozen fertilised eggs. “The oldest one is over 20 years old,” he added.
Frozen fertilised eggs at the bank belonged to parents who deposited them there voluntarily. However, before collecting samples from any of the eggs, researchers must first ask the parents’ permission.
“Depositing fertilised eggs or sperm at the bank has its benefits. If anything happens to a spouse, the surviving one will still be able to produce a child,” he said.
Kamthorn is in charge of the Assisted Reproductive Technology Unit of Chulalongkorn Hospital’s Faculty of Medicine as well as chief of stem-cell research. He said the unit had the technology to implant a fertilised egg in a woman’s womb that could grow into a healthy baby.
“If developed in a laboratory, it can replicated continuously,” he said, adding that embryonic stem cells were also useful in research that tested the causes of disease.
“With them [stem cells], we are able to discover new cures in many areas of medicine for hundreds of thousand of people,” he said.
“Organ transplants are able to help people on an individual basis, but with stem-cell research and the discovery of new treatments, the number of beneficiaries can be in the hundreds of thousands.”
Stem-cell research was already paving the way for the development of new anti-HIV/Aids cells as well as bone-marrow transplants, Kamthorn said.
