"More recently some people have begun to use stem cells found in their own adult bodies to help repair and rejuvenate their own tissues. It now appears that everyone at any age has stem cells that can be used, not just stem cells from embryos and newborns. However, like all the other tissues and cells in your body, your stem cells are also subject to the aging process and younger stem cells work better than older ones. The key is to collect and freeze some of your cells as early in your life (after age 21) as possible"
I'm about your age, and I've deliberated about this.
First, It is common to collect stem cells from a cancer patient before they start chemotherapy by injecting factors that increase the stem cell counts in the blood. The idea is that they can then be harvested from the blood, then reintroduced after the chemo, and it helps recovery somehow. But as I recall, family members may do this if the patient is in very bad condition... Which would mean that the stems cells dont need to be your own to work for you ( the closer the genes are to yours the better I would think, just don't use animal stem cells
)... So worst case scenario, if you dont freeze your stem cells when you are young, I would think you could always get them from someone who is, if it turns out that young stem cells are better...
Also, recently I was reading about heterochronic parabiosis (the study was connecting the circulatory systems of old and young mice, simply fascinating!), I remember that there was evidence that old stem cells acted like young stem cells when exposed to young blood! And that young stem cells acted old when exposed to old blood! This would suggest that the stem cells may be fine in old people (and I believe they dont diminish in number either), and that the problem is something in the blood.
Another point, freezing biological things like cells works: as sperm and eggs are frozen routinely. However, I recall that the younger you are, the more likely that your sperm will "survive" the freeze, and be able to move around like a tadpole. This indicates to me that freezing does have downsides, and "fresh" cells may be better than frozen ones.
So, personally I dont think that it likely offers a great advantage worth a large investment, unless you have a ton of money to play with.
But as a disclaimer, I have not studied stem cells to a great extent. There may be some critical need for your own stem cells, as my paranoid brain can imagine that using someone else's stem cells may result in the body recognizing the differentiated cells as being invaders, but I dont know if this really occurs in practice.
In any case, my logic above is enough to convince me to keep my money, but to be really sure, more studying should be done. Hope this helps you.
Edited by Tron, 04 August 2010 - 12:29 PM.
