Have you ever imagined a medicine that's so wonderful that it can change your life? A medicine that liberates a child's daily use of insulin for diabetes or perhaps help damaged organs regrow and wounds would heal without leaving any scars. Well, they may sound fictional but with the help of regenerative medicine, all of these are now made possible.

Regenerative medicine is a new form of treatment that can deal with diseases and injuries by using specially grown cells and tissues, artificial organs, and laboratory-made compounds. With all these approaches combined, it can amplify the body's natural healing process whenever it's needed the most, or perhaps do the job of taking over the function of a permanently damaged organ.

Regenerative medicine is a new field in science that gathers experts in biology, chemistry, engineering, genetics, medicine, robotics, computer science, and other fields so that they can come up with solutions regarding the most challenging medical problems that mankind has ever faced.

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What are stem cells?

Stem cells are known as the raw materials of the body in which cells with a special function are being generated from. When it's in the proper condition inside a body or a laboratory, these cells divide to create more cells which are called the daughter cells.

The newly generated daughter cells either become new stem cells or specialized cells that that have a more specific function such as brain cells, blood cells, bone cells, or heart muscle cells. The stem cells really are a special one because no other cells have the kind of ability to create new cell types.

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Why stem cells became such an interest?

Researchers and doctors are starting to pay attention to stem cells because of how it can contribute to the advancement of science. The study of stem cells can help with the following:

• Create healthy cells to replace the diseased cells - Stem cells can be ushered into becoming specific cells that can help repair and generate the damaged or diseased tissues in people. Individuals who can benefit from stem cell therapies are those that have cancer, burns, stroke, osteoarthritis, type 1 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
  Stem cells are capable of becoming new tissues that can be used in transplant and regenerative medicine. Up to this day, researchers continue to do more studies on stem cells and their applications on these medicinal procedures.
• Increase the understanding on how diseases happen - Stem cells are being observed on how they mature into cells in bones, nerves, heart muscle, and other tissue and organs. Through this observation, doctors and researchers will have a better understanding on how these conditions and diseases develop.
• Test new drugs for effectiveness and safety - Before investigational drugs are being used in people, researchers can use certain stem cells to test these drugs for its quality and safety. This kind of testing will first have a direct impact on drug development for cardiac toxicity testing. There are new areas of study that focuses on the effectiveness of using human stem cells that have been tailored into tissue-specific cells to test out the new drugs. In order for the testing to be accurate, the cells are being programmed to obtain the properties of the types of cells that the new drugs are being used for. The process of programming these cells into a specific cell are still being studied. For example, nerve cells are being generated to test out a new drug that's for nerve disease. These tests could prove if the new drug has an effect on the cells and if these cells were harmed during the process.

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Are stem cells used for knee treatment?

The joint cartilage job is to provide a smooth movement of joint surfaces and prevent the bones form causing friction. This process can help with the shock absorption of something that has up to 20 times the weight of the body. It is important for physical movement especially if you're heavily involved in athletics.

Osteoarthritis is one of many chronic degenerative disorders and it sometimes affects the knees which can cause the deterioration of the joint cartilage over time.

Knee injuries can even cause osteoarthritis in cases such as fracture, ligament tear, or tendon damage.

The damage on the knees will make the joints become unstable and can wear down the articular cartilage in the process. During this process, the bones can get damaged as well in addition to the damage already being done to ligaments, muscles, tendons, and synovial joint lining.

The good news is that stem cell therapy can be used on the knees and the process is minimally invasive. This procedure will reduce inflammation then slowly repair all these types of damaged caused by arthritis and may even delay or prevent the need for a knee replacement surgery.

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What does the future hold?

The advancement in regenerative medicine and stem cell research are being recognized as breakthroughs. However, a breakthrough in study doesn't mean a new therapy since this approach may cause a conflict between public expectation and the progress of how new treatments can be developed.

But the good news is that regenerative medicine has a good track record of success especially on its effectiveness against a small number of diseases.

For regenerative medicine to become a part of mainstream medicine, better regulation and better science must be combined with both innovative manufacturing methods that will make such treatments affordable while also showing how they can benefit both the patient and society as a whole.