In the future, it will be possible to repair damaged bone tissue
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Specialists from the University of London were able to make a breakthrough in the field of regenerative medicine and, perhaps, implants, which are now widely used, will gradually become a thing of the past. In the future, scientists plan to treat injuries and diseases of the skeleton and bones with a biologically active membrane, which will be transplanted into the body to stimulate the growth of its own bone tissue.
Thanks to the work of specialists, previously considered fantastic ideas about replacing sick organs with new and healthy ones, can become a reality. This area is exploring regenerative medicine. The main idea of this branch of medicine is to restore the damaged organ with the help of the body's own reserves.
Regenerative medicine includes cellular therapy and tissue engineering.
Cell therapy involves the replacement of damaged cells of human tissues with new ones ( transplantation into the body of stem cells that must replace damaged cells).
Tissue engineering is the next step, at which experts can replace tissues or entire organs.
Recently, specialists from the University. Queen Mary in London was able to move one step forward in the field of replacing the whole fabric. Biological engineers were able to construct a membrane that includes a certain type of proteins that in the body during transplantation trigger the mechanism of bone repair. At this stage, the researchers conducted a study only on laboratory rats, but if the development of the method is continued, this research project can help hundreds of patients suffering from brittle bones and other diseases that break the density and structure of bone tissue.
To create a bioactive membrane, a group of researchers used segments of different proteins. As a result, scientists were able to find out which protein is responsible for triggering the mechanism of recovery in the body and the regeneration of bone tissue.
When working with rats, specialists were able to see that the protein of stterin stimulates the process of formation of new bone tissue. As one of the authors of the Ester Tezeda-Montes research project noted, the advantage of such a membrane is that it is biologically active and easily fits into the injured parts of the bone.
The work of scientists, in their opinion, will allow to develop a synthetic graft tunable in such a way that a natural recovery process that can not be achieved in the majority of synthetic analogs is started.
Stimulates the recovery of a special segment of the protein of the statin, which prevents the crystallization of minerals, including the formation of a calcium phosphate precipitate in the salivary fluid. Also this segment is present in the tooth enamel. The co-author of the research project, Alvaro Mata, notes that the study is truly amazing, on the one hand, and inspiring, on the other, because scientists have managed to find a molecule that activates the formation of new bone tissue in the body.
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