What Are Stem Cells
Have you
been hearing about or seeing plant stem cells in skin care?
I’ve been
seeing a slew of stem cell products recently with lofty claims about what they
can do for skin. But information about what they really do for skin is vague
and skimpy. Given all the hype and the price premium these products command, I
think it’s worth examining them more closely. Are they really doing something
for skin and worth the premium they command?
It’s also
worth just understanding what they are.
When you
hear “stem cells,” are you skeptical?
Does it
confuse you?
Alarm you?
If you
answered yes to any, I don’t think you’re alone.
Let’s find
out what they are.
I’ll try
to make this simple and right to the point.
What Are Stem Cells?
Everyone has
stem cells in their body.
Stem cells
give rise to other cells.
You can
think of them as master cells or parent cells.
They are
cells that become specialized cells for all the different parts of your body.
There are
two important characteristics of stem cells:
Stem cells
are cells that keep
on growing. They have
the ability to
self-renew for a
long time.
Stem
cells are also undifferentiated, which means they have no specific
function. But they can
turn into specialized cells later
on when they’re needed.
In HUMANS and ANIMALS,
there are 2 types of stem cells:
1. Embryonic Stem Cells
These
come from the blastocyst (pre-embyro, at 5 days after fertilization
of the sperm and egg)
They turn into specialized cells when the
embryo/fetus is growing
2. Adult Stem Cells
These
are found in every
tissue of the
body, including skin
They are
involved in the repair
and regeneration of damaged tissue
They turn into specialized cells (e.g. bone, muscle, nerve) when
tissue has been injured or worn out
Some animals
can regenerate an entire limb (e.g. starfish, salamander); human beings cannot
In PLANTS, stem cells are located in the meristems (located at the tips of roots and
shoots).
They are not
differentiated
They can
keep on regenerating
Their role
is to replace dying plant cells and repair damaged ones
Stem cells
are used in medicine today to regenerate damaged tissue. With great success
too.
And more
medical uses for stem cells are being discovered every day.
Stem cells
have made their way into skincare in recent years. So let’s see how.
Plant Stem Cells in Skin
Care
In skin
care, stem cells are usually obtained from PLANTS.
The earliest
plant stem cell research was done on Swiss apples (Uttweiler spatlauber), which were bred in the 18th
century to have exceptional longevity.
Today’s
plant stem cell extracts come from a wide variety of sources, such as:
alpine rose
grape
rice
butterfly
bush
coneflower
edelweiss
sea fennel
gardenia
lilac
madonna lily
orange
argan
marrubium
and on and
on!
The Key to Stem Cells
Working
Stem cells
talk to each other and to other cells. This is known as cell signaling.
They release
signals called cytokines, which are proteins.
There are
various kinds, and one kind is known as a growth factor.
Growth factors promote cell growth, healing, and differentiation.
I bring up
cytokines to make an important point:
Human stem cells and Plant stem cells do NOT speak the same chemical
language
In other
words, putting plant stem cells into human skin to trigger the growth or
regeneration of new skin cells is physiologically impossible.
They each
have their own kinds of signaling chemicals. So they can’t understand each
other’s signals.
But stem cells can be harvested for
their growth factors.
Those growth factors may be added to products to stimulate protein production.
And they have other benefits (below).
When stem
cells are harvested, the cells are broken up, the signaling molecules are
saved, and the parts of the cell that are not needed are discarded.
When a
company says that its product contains stem cells, what it really means is that
the product contains the growth factors and signaling molecules that have been
extracted from the stem cells. Not the whole stem cells themselves.
It is
impossible to get entire cells through skin.
Cells are
way too big to penetrate the skin barrier. It’s hard enough to get individual
ingredients (molecules) into skin (through the epidermis and into the dermis),
let alone whole cells, which are huge by comparison.
So What Are the
Benefits of Plant Stem Cells?
Stem cells,
or more precisely – the messaging molecules that are harvested from stem cells,
can offer these benefits in skin care products:
Provide antioxidant protection
Protect skin
from photodamage by
absorbing UV radiation
Protect skin
from other types of oxidative damage
Provide anti-inflammatory benefits
Provide stimulation to
epidermal stem cells
Increase the longevity of
skin cells
Source: Just About Skin
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