Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and platelet-rich plasma for ligament and cartilage regeneration.

23 Jan Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and platelet-rich plasma for ligament and cartilage regeneration.

How does PRP enhance stem cell treatments?

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) has the ability to both increase stem cells and guide them in healing. In initial findings, PRP assisted stem cells in “figuring out” what they needed to be – whether a cartilage cell, or a bone cell, or a collagen cell for ligaments and tendons. Here is what the science says: “Platelet-rich plasma has recently emerged as a potential biologic tool to treat acute and chronic tendon disorders. The regenerative potential of PRP is based on the release of growth factors that occurs with platelet rupture. Its autologous nature [the recipient and donor are one and the same person] gives it a significant advantage in tissue engineering applications.”5 So the platelets are already attuned to provide a healing environment or “scaffold” to build on. In the research cited, results confirmed that PRP enhances MSC stem cell proliferation and suggested that PRP causes chondrogenic differentiation of MSC in vitro – the platelets told the stem cells what to do.

Lin BN, Whu SW, Chen CH, Hsu FY, Chen JC, Liu HW, Chen CH, Liou HM. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, platelet-rich plasma and nanohydroxyapatite-type I collagen beads were integral parts of biomimetic bone substitutes for bone regeneration. J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2012 Jun 28. doi: 10.1002/term.1472. [Epub ahead of print]