Stem cells corpses, Study claims stems cells can be harvested from dead bodies Stem cells, the malleable human cells that can be used in treating various illnesses can be harvested from bodies long after they're dead, new research claims . Scientists are hoping that the newly discovered longevity in the cells will allow them to more easily research stem-cell therapies Stem cells can remain alive in human corpses for at least 17 days after death, researchers sayStem cells give rise to all other cells in the body, a property that makes them extraordinarily valuable in potential therapies. These potent cells are often rare, only present in small numbers in tissue samples from patients and difficult to distinguish from other cell types in many cases. As such, scientists are investigating novel ways to procure stem cells and improve the viability of the ones they can get
Past research had suggested that stem cells could actually survive in up to 2-day-old cadavers, but researchers had thought that dead bodies would be poor homes for any cells, lacking the oxygen and nutrients the body's cells need to stay alive. Nevertheless, histologist and neuropathologist Fabrice Chrétien at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and his colleagues were curious to see how long stem cells might keep ticking after a person died.
The researchers only had access to remains 17 days old, suggesting they have not yet seen the limits that stem cells ca reach. "Maybe they can also resist longer," Chrétien told LiveScience.
The cadavers in question had been kept at 39 degrees F (4 degrees C) to keep from rotting. The stem cells the researchers isolated give rise to skeletal muscle, the kind connected to the bones, as opposed to the kind in the heart or other internal organs.
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