Late Night Health

Joanne Halbrecht, MD joins Mark Alyn to talk about orthopedic stem cell therapy and how it all works.Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC's) were first isolated from bone marrow by Dr. Arnold Caplan in 1988. He found that when he combined the MSC's with certain chemicals in the lab, they were able to differentiate in to a variety of tissues such as cartilage, bone and tendon. Since 1988, extensive study of MSC's have proven that they do so much more! In the body, MSC's do not differentiate like they do in the lab. They are attracted to areas of inflammation and injury and act like little drug stores, releasing chemicals that signal the cells around them. MSC's are powerful anti-inflammatories, counteracting inflammation and the breakdown of cartilage. They signal the dormant stem cells in damaged cartilage to grow and proliferate. They inhibit scar tissue formation, promote the growth of blood vessels and accelerate healing. Thus, within our own bodies, we have the potential to heal ourselves.Studies have shown that