• Question: how do stem cells fixs bons

    Asked by kacperomgwhysolong to Tomasz, Matt, Dave on 22 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Matthew Tomlinson

      Matthew Tomlinson answered on 22 Nov 2013:


      There are stems cells in the bone marrow that are able to become special cells called osteoblasts. These cells make proteins like collagen which bridge the gap between the broken bones. This collagen then gets converted into bone by other proteins made by the osteoblasts. These proteins are able to use calcium and phosphorus and make it into the crystals that make up bone. Overall it is a really complicated process involving lots of different proteins.

      We can use stem cells as a treatment by putting more cells into the break to help it heal, or by putting them into breaks that won’t heal by themselves. This means that more cells become osteoblasts and make more bone.

      I hope this helps, if there is anything else you would like to know give me a shout!

    • Photo: David Christensen

      David Christensen answered on 22 Nov 2013:


      I’m no expert on making bones with stem cells, but I work with some people who are studying bone formation and ways to use stem cells to heal bones.

      If you use embryonic stem cells, they can become any type of cell including the cells needed to make bones, so you could give those to a person with broken bones to help fix them. A lot of scientists are also trying to work with stem cells that we can find in our own bones to learn how to use those to make new bones or heal damaged bones. Because these are specialised stem cells that can only become a small number of types of cell including those needed for bone repair, they should be easier to use, but it is harder to get them because we have to take them out of bone samples that must be taken from people.

      I think the really cool research in this area is in trying to make new bones. Scientists make scaffolds of the overall structure of the bone and then try to attach and grow the stem cells to make sure that they form something of the right shape. I have tried to grow some bones in the lab and they grew all funny shapes, so they would have been useless if we tried giving them to a person!

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