Passing data and supplying power to neural implants

Abstract

The ischemia-induced death of cardiomyocytes results in scar formation and reduced contractility of the ventricle. Several preclinical and clinical studies have supported the notion that cell therapy may be used for cardiac regeneration. Most attempts for cardiomyoplasty have considered the bone marrow as the source of the "repair stem cell(s)," assuming that the hematopoietic stem cell can do the work. However, bone marrow is also the residence of other progenitor cells, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Since 1995 it has been known that under in vitro conditions, MSCs differentiate into cells exhibiting features of cardiomyocytes. This pioneer work was followed by many preclinical studies that revealed that ex vivo expanded, bone marrow-derived MSCs may represent another option for cardiac regeneration. In this work, we review evidence and new prospects that support the use of MSCs in cardiomyoplasty.

The MSC: An Injury Drugstore

“…For instance, based on the known effects of infused MSCs on heart diseases (Schuster et al, 2004; Itescu et al, 2003; Minguell and Erices, 2006), it may be possible to develop an alternative therapeutic paradigm for use in third world countries or in situations in which adequate life-support is not readily available for patients suffering an acute myocardial infarct. Following this new approach, patients would be treated in a clinical facility that had frozen stores of bags of allogeneic MSCs available for infusion.…”

Microbial Fuel Cells, A Current Review

“…Fuel cells based on enzymatic catalysts have also been shown to operate under physiological conditions but still require much improvement to become viable [54,55]. Interest has also been expressed in using human white blood cells as a source of electrons for an anode [56]. Experiments using white blood cells in phosphate-buffered saline solution with a ferric-cyanide cathode produced a low current level of 1-3 µAcm −2 but it could not determine if electron transport to the anode was through a direct or indirect process [57].…”

Enabling a robust scalable manufacturing process for therapeutic exosomes through oncogenic immortalization of human ESC-derived MSCs

“…MSC transplantation has been used in clinical trials and animal models to treat musculoskeletal injuries, improve cardiac function in cardiovascular disease and ameliorate the severity of graft-versus-host-disease [1]. In recent years, MSC transplantations have demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in treating different diseases but the underlying mechanism has been controversial [2-9]. Some reports have suggested that factors secreted by MSCs were responsible for the therapeutic effect on arteriogenesis, stem cell crypt in the intestine, ischemic injury, and hematopoiesis [9-20].…”