Growing stem cells in space may be the next big thing. Mayo Clinic doctor Abba Zubair, M.D., has successfully treated patients who suffered hemorrhagic strokes using stem cells. His goal for the future is to grow enough cells to help in the regeneration of neurons and blood vessels in hemorrhagic stroke patients.
Growing Stem Cells in Space
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A hemorrhagic stroke is one that is caused by an artery in the brain that bursts causing bleeding in tissues around the brain. The effect on the brain by this event is damaged brain cells. If a brain hemorrhage occurs “you either recover completely or you die, ” said Zubair.
Zubair wants to send bone marrow derived stem cells to the international space station because experiments have shown that stem cells will grow faster in an environment with less gravity. “Five to ten times faster, but it could be more, ” said Zubair. It takes about a month for conventionally grown stem cells to grow appreciably. “Based on our experience [treating patients] with bone marrow transplant you need about two hundred to five hundred million cells, ” Zubair says.
A batch of stem cells are scheduled to be taken to the international space station within a year. While one batch of cells is grown in space, another batch will be grown on earth. Other than the difference in gravity the growing environments will be the same.
Zubair says if the lack of gravity proves to be a better environment for stem cell growth, then the next step will be to transform the cells into tissue-and ultimately organs. He is looking forward to the time when replacement organs can be grown in space and then brought back for placement in patients.
In the meantime, he believes that this use of stem cells “will revolutionize how we treat stroke patients, not only hemorrhagic but even the ischemic stroke, which is much more common.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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