After many efforts for a number of years by researchers, a major discovery has been made in medical history. Mumbai based ENT doctor, Somali Pandit feels lucky to be a part of this fruitful research. The research says ‘Stem cells would be now used for treating hearing problems’. The research was conducted at Garvan institute of Medical Research in Sydney. Doctor Pandit was doing a thesis at the university and the research was a part of the thesis.
The expert team of Australian university used stem cells which were extracted from the nasal cavity. However, it is still to find out whether stem cells isolated from menstrual blood storage would have given the same results or not. It was not in the knowledge of people of Chembur, Mumbai that a city doctor was a part of this research too. As Pandit says ‘the thesis was being carried out in mice’. The doctor wants to continue research in this field further as further discoveries will lead to elimination of many problems. Adding on to this Doctor Pandit further says that the thesis involved isolation of stem cells from nose. These abundant stem cells were then injected into inner ear or cochlea.
Researchers worked on hearing loss that is caused due to nerve damage. It is also called sensorineural hearing loss which is the most common form of disease these days. According to the research study by Indian council of medical research it was found that about two hundred million Indians suffer from this type of hearing loss. The reason is heavy use of gadgets like mobile phones and iPods. The study used the nasal stem cells rather than stem cells in menstrual blood or adult tissues. The reason quoted by Dr Pandit was that cells extracted from nose can be converted into other cell types. In addition, they are easy to harvest and get replaced constantly.
The research has been published online in the medical journal of stem cells. The researchers’ team found out that stem cells secrete a certain chemical substance that helps in the proper functioning of hearing cells of cochlea. However, the research has yet to be tried on human beings and doctors are positive about its success. Stem cells have the capability to cure a wide number of medical disorders. This is the reason why doctors’ today advice women to store menstrual blood. It is the richest source of stem cells and helps to cure problems that arise in adult and embryonic cells.
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