Regenerative medicine is a growing field focused on replacing or rebooting tissues or organs damaged because of disease, injury, age, or other issues.
What Is Regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative medicine focuses on repairing or replacing tissues that have been damaged by disease, trauma, or congenital issues instead of just treating the symptoms. These tools include tissue engineering, cellular therapies, medical devices, and artificial organs.
Regenerative medicine is a field that uses combinations of different approaches to help heal damaged organs. This new area of study brings together experts from different fields to find solutions to some of the most challenging medical problems.
We can use the power of the body to heal more quickly. This could be beneficial in cases of injury or disease.
Human Regeneration
Regeneration in humans happens at three levels:
- Molecular: These molecules make up your body, like DNA, fats, and carbohydrates.
- Cellular: These are the cells that help your body grow and reproduce.
- Tissue: This includes blood, skin, bone, or muscle.
How Does It Work?
Stem cell therapy is a form of regenerative medicine that uses lab-made stem cells. Scientists can grow these cells in a lab and then use them to treat different diseases. For example, lab-made heart muscle cells may be used to help repair or replace damaged heart cells if you have heart disease.
What Is Regenerative Medicine Used For?
Several therapies and conditions including:
- Type 1 diabetes
- Cardiovascular tissue repair
- Brain injury tissue repair
- Immune system improvement
- Cell therapy
- Tissue engineering
- Skin wounds
- Certain cancers
- Organ transplants
Regenerative Medicine is a promising field working to restore structure and function to damaged tissues and organs. It is also working to find solutions for organs that become permanently damaged. The goal of this approach is to cure injuries and diseases that were previously untreatable.
3 Concentrations of Regenerative Medicine
The concentrations in the field of regenerative medicine are:
1. Cellular Therapies
Adult stem cells are found in every human. Our body uses them to repair itself. Studies have illustrated that if adult stem cells are collected and injected into the site of a disease or damage, the tissue can be reconstructed under the right circumstances.
These cells can be collected from blood, fat, bone marrow, dental pulp, skeletal muscle, and other sources. Cord blood provides another source of adult stem cells. Scientists and clinicians are developing and refining their ability to collect and inject adult stem cells into patients to repair diseased or damaged tissue.
2. Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials
Tissue engineering is a strategy where scaffolds are implanted in the body to help regenerate tissue. If the scaffold is designed to look like the tissue that needs to be regenerated and the scaffold attracts cells, the outcome is new tissue that looks like the desired shape. If the newly forming tissue is exercised as it forms, the outcome can be new tissue that is functionally engineered.
3. Medical Devices and Artificial Organs
Many technologies are being developed to supplement or replace the function of organs in the body. Some of these devices are being used to support or bridge the gap until a transplantable organ is found. For example, circulatory support devices are being developed to help maintain a patient’s blood flow until a new organ can be found. Scientists and clinicians worldwide are working on these devices, and many of them are still in development.
Conclusion
Regeneration is the body’s natural ability to heal, regrow, and repair. Scientists are learning how to use this ability to repair, replace, and restore damaged or diseased tissue. Several successful therapies and procedures already use regenerative medicine, but the field is still in its infancy. It is a promising field that has the potential to help treat and cure many diseases and injuries.
At Garden State Medical Group, our board-certified physicians and specialists practice multidisciplinary integrative and functional medicine with a focus on prevention, management, and education. This allows us to treat the whole person, including the biological, clinical, and behavioral aspects. Our goal is to become advocates for our patients by providing premier personalized service. If you’re looking for a primary care doctor in New Jersey, we’ve got you covered! Get in touch with us today and let us know how we can help!