Menstrual blood a good source of stem cells

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ATLANTA Mar 14 (Reuters) Japanese researchers have harvested stem cells from human menstrual blood. These stem cells could potentially be a source of specialized heart cells, which might be used to treat failing or damaged hearts.

Stem cells are young, undifferentiated cells that have the ability to become various specialized cells that make up the different tissues of the body.

At the meeting of the American College of Cardiology here, Dr Shunichiro Miyoshi reported that he and his colleagues at Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, collected menstrual blood from six women and harvested stem cells that originated in the lining of the uterus, the endometrium.

They were able to obtain about thirty times more stem cells from menstrual blood than from bone marrow, Miyoshi told Reuters.

When the stem cells were cultured in a way to induce them to become heart cells, after five days about half of the cells contracted ''spontaneously, rhythmical and synchronously, suggesting the presence of electrical communication'' between the cells, Miyoshi announced. That is to say, they behaved like heart cells.

The researcher explained that already stem cells derived from bone marrow have been shown to improve the function of the heart -- mainly by producing new blood vessels rather than new heart-muscle tissue. He emphasised that it is important that these cells be obtained from younger patients, because they would have a longer lifespan than cells harvested from older donors.