the first Woman to Receive Tissue Graft Made From Induced Stem Cells

A Japanese woman in her 70’s became the first human to get a tissue transplant that was grown from induced pluripotent stem cells, as reported by RIKEN. The women recieved a 1.3mm x 3mm sheet of retinal pigment epithelium as a treatment for her age-related macular degeneration. The two-hour-long surgery was conducted at the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation in Kobe by Yasu Kurimoto. He reported that no serious hemorrhaging or complication was involved in the surgery. It’s too early to tell how the transplant will do and how she will recover. Approval for using the technique was given just four days ago and was successful with animals.

Pluripotent stem cells have the potential to become nearly any type of cell that the body may need and a quantity of chemical signals help in guiding what the cell may differentiate into down the line. The cells are produced inside the blastocyst, which forms five days after occurrence until implantation in the uterus. After the implantation about 10 days later, the inner cells will become the embryo, while the external cells become extra embryonic tissues. The umbilical cord is full of multipotent stem cells, but aren’t able to separate into quite as many forms of pluripotent cells.