News Excerpt:

Stem cells from the endometrium can be collected through a biopsy or in menstrual blood. 

• Under the right conditions, they can differentiate into cell types, including neurons and cartilage, fat, bone, heart, liver and skin cells

About Endometrium: 

• It provides a site for an embryo to implant during pregnancy and is shed during menstruation. 
• The endometrium has a remarkable capacity to regrow itself each month. 
• It undergoes roughly 400 rounds of shedding and regrowth before a woman reaches menopause.

About Endometrial stem cells:

• Endometrial stem cells have been linked to endometriosis, a painful condition that affects roughly 190 million women and girls worldwide. 
  • Researchers hypothesise that one contributor is the backflow of menstrual blood into a woman’s fallopian tubes. 
  • These ducts carry the egg from the ovaries into the uterus. This backward flow takes the blood into the pelvic cavity, a funnel-shaped space between the pelvis bones.
• Endometrial stem cells that get deposited in these areas may cause endometrial-like tissue to grow outside of the uterus, leading to lesions that can cause excruciating pain, scarring and, in many cases, infertility.
• Researchers are still developing a reliable, non-invasive test to diagnose endometriosis, and patients wait an average of nearly seven years before receiving a diagnosis. 
• However, studies have shown that stem cells collected from the menstrual blood of women with endometriosis have different shapes and patterns of gene expression than cells from healthy women.
• Several labs are working on ways to use these differences in menstrual stem cells to identify women at higher risk of the condition, which could lead to faster diagnosis and treatment. 
• Menstrual stem cells may also have therapeutic applications. 
  • Some researchers working on mice, for example, have found that injecting menstrual stem cells into the rodents’ blood can repair the damaged endometrium and improve fertility.
• Menstrual stem cells can potentially treat diabetes by promoting insulin-producing cell regeneration.