Regenerative medicine Essay Example for Free

Regenerative medicine Essay Regenerative medicine Is the process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function. It can be used for many things by many different techniques. It can benefit many different people in many different ways. Regenerative medicine replaces/repairs tissues that the body cannot repair on its own. This includes things such as organs like kidneys; if one needs to be removed we may be able to replace/repair It. Regenerative medicine can save lives and be a lot more useful than average people may think it Is. Using state of the arc technology we may be able to prevent organ transplant rejection due to the fact that we can grow the organ from the patients owns cells/tissue. Current estimates say that approximately one in three Americans can benefit from regenerative medicine. Stem cells are used a lot in regenerative medicine. The stem cells are what are used to create the organ in the lab. The scientists first take the stem cells and place them and a model for them to grow on. Once the stem cells have grown and formed tissues around the mold they add what the organ needs to do its function. They then end electrical signals to bring the organ to life, like a heartbeat, almost as if they are reviving it. This has the potential of saving millions of lives in the long run, maybe even billions, or eventually trillions if mankind last that long. Of course technology will advance and there will be dfferent techniques and approaches for regenerative medlclne, but technology Is developing faster than ever in the past 100 years, so we may not be as far away from achieving great things as you might think. Say someone needs a new bladder, but no bladders that match them are currently available. Well with regenerative medicine we can create a new bladder in a hopefully short period of time with the tissues and cells of the person who needs the bladder. Therefor there will be no shortage of organs and no problems regarding the body rejecting the organ anyways. The only downside of this Is that growing tissues and cells takes time. So, If the patient needs a new bladder Immediately, growing one will not be an opuon because It will not grow fast enough In time for the person to live. But I see that there are three solutions. Solution one is that people could regularly visit their octor to be sure nothing is wrong, so if something is wrong we may be able to notice it before Its too late. Solution two is that in the future we can only hope that technology will be advanced enough for us to speed up the growth of these tissues, this will help In situations where the patients does not have a lot of time. The third solution Is that If we have the materials needed, we could eventually create enough organs with enough different tissues that nine times out of ten, one of the organs will match. I believe that any of these three solutions could work, but they ingredient to chieving this is time and effort. This is why I feel like more people should be choosing careers in science. It is very interesting and can help benefit all humans on the plant in the long run. So If more people worked with regenerative medicine who knows what the limits could be. Fasclnatlon wltn ty to regenerate tlssues ana organs nas exlstea slnce mankind first realized that it is possible (This was thousands of years ago, even though they couldnt really do anything and the term regenerative medicine was not used). Long before the term Regenerative Medicine was came up with, humans were ealizing the effects and capabilities of medicinal intervention. The Ancient Civilizations of Sameria, Egypt, China, India, and South America all pioneered medical discoveries and techniques that still impact the field today. Practices that we take for granted, such as cleansing and debridement of wounds using vegetable and mineral concoctions were common. Hundreds of scientists and philosophers over thousands of years have worked to establish our current technologies. The early 1800s saw a huge expansion in the fields of biology and medicine when scientists revealed that all ife depends on chemical reactions that occur within cells, which could, in fact, be reproduced in the laboratory. The discovery and official introduction of antibiotics by Alexander Flemming in 1928 changed the field of health-care forever. Followed shortly after by the discovery of cell division and heritability in the form of a helical, ladder-like structure, called DNA, science was geared to bring a whole other ball game. These discoveries meant that human biology and the systems contained within could now be brought into and manipulated in the laboratory. As the turn of he 20th century hit, previously mystical processes of life science finally become tangible. Regenerative medicine has grown from prior activities including surgery, surgical implants (artificial hips), and increasingly sophisticated bio-material scaffolds (skin grafts). The work that truly launched regenerative medicine into a tangible area of science began as cell therapy. Work in the field of transplantation in the mid-1950s gave rise to some of the first therapeutic surgeries in medicine. Performed on identical twins, the first kidney transplant occurred in 1954 followed by he first liver and lung transplants in 1963, pancreas transplant in 1966, and the first heart transplant in 1967. Bone marrow transplants for treatment of leukemia patients had the public and scientific communities in an uproar of excitement. Following this wave of enthusiasm, cell biologists began to question the capabilities of the integrity of the tissues being transplanted and wondered whether it was possible to create, grow, and harvest these tissues in the laboratory. Thus began the era of Tissue Engineering which has lead us into the field of Regenerative Medicine. Cell therapy is a therapy in which cellular material is injected into a patient. Cell therapy originated in the nineteenth century when scientists experimented by injecting animal material in an attempt to prevent and treat illness. Although such attempts produced no positive benefit, further research found in the mid twentieth century showed that human cells could be used to help prevent the human body rejecting transplanted organs, leading in time to successful bone marrow transplantation. Today two distinct categories of cell therapy are recognized. The first ategory is cell therapy in mainstream medicine. This is the subject of intense research and the basis of potential therapeutic benefit. Such research, especially when it involves human embryonic material, is controversial. The second category is in alternative medicine, and perpetuates the practice of injecting animal materials in an attempt to cure disease. This practice, according to the American Cancer Society, Is not DacKea Dy any mealcal evidence 0T erectlveness, ana can nave aea01y consequences.