4 replies to this topic

[eternaltraveler]

A thought that just now occurred to me has to do with bone marrow transplants. Bone marrow, as I suspect most are aware, is a source of blood stem cells. Bone marrow makes blood. But I suspect like every other part of our bodies our bone marrow and the resulting blood feels the cumulative effects of aging as well. I don’t imagine the blood of an 85-year-old man does quite as good of a job as the blood of a 12 year old.

My thought is this. Would it be wise for those of us who are still reasonably young to put bone marrow on file somewhere so that we can get it back when we are in our 60s or so?

Can bone marrow be successfully frozen and used again?

Sure, I’m betting that by the time I’m in my 60s much better therapies will exist. But a little extra insurance never hurts, and maybe getting new blood at that age will extend my life a few years.

Thoughts?

[olaf.larsson]

Yeah I wonder that too. Where should one go to save a bonemarrow sample for the future? Who knows what benefits I could have o this in 40 years...

[eternaltraveler]

Well if a place doesn't currently exist to store bone marrow for the future we could always create one. Partner with Alcor or some other organization that already has the cryonic facilities. This seems to me to be something right up their alley. Get them a little added income as well.

This could be a potential stem cell therapy we can apply without any advances in technology.

It'd be nice if a few others could chime in who might know a bit more about this area. Maybe it's a stupid idea.

[eternaltraveler]

Umbilical cord blood banks (private and government funded) have been harvesting stem cells and cryopreserving them for years. For personal stem cell salvage and storage one does not have to use bone marrow as peripheral blood stem cells exist in whole blood and can also be collected for storage.

ok. Then why do bone marrow transplants exist at all? Why not find a suitable donor and filter these stem cells out of their blood and then innoculate these into the bone marrow of the cancer patient? (Instead of drilling a hole in the donor's bone).

Certainly seems simpler and easier though.