Niranjan Bhattacharya

Frontiers of Cord Blood Science

Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cell (Basic Science).- Placental and Pregnancy Stem Cells.- Cord Blood Stem Cells - The Basic Science.- Stem Cells from Umbilical Cord Blood.- Ex Vivo Expansion of Cord Blood.- Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Applications in Cell and Gene Therapy.- Non-hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells Derived From Human Umbilical Cord Blood.- Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation.- Cord Blood Transplantation for Pediatric Non-Malignant Conditions.- Cord Blood Transplantation for Hematologic Malignancies.- Double Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation in Adults.- Transfusion of Cord Blood.- Placental Umbilical Cord Whole Blood Transfusion: A True Blood Substitute to Combat Anemia in the Background of Chronic Disease - A Study Report (1999-2006).- Umbilical Cord Blood Therapy in Neurology.- Cord Blood: Opportunities and Challenges for the Reconstructive Surgeon.- Umbilical Cord Blood Transfusion - A Clinical Overview.- Cord Blood Stem Cell Banking.- Establishment of the UK Stem Cell Bank and Its Role in Stem Cell Science.- Cord Blood Allogeneic and Autologous Banking.- Potential Engineering Application of Cord Blood.- Possibilities of Using Cord Blood for Improving the Biocompatibility of Implants.- Potential of Stem Cell to Tailor the Bone-Ceramic Interface for Better Fixation of Orthopedic Implants.- Ethics.- Some Aspects of the Ethics of Stem Cell Research.

Human fetal tissue transplantation

Part I The ideas behind this book.- Part II Basic Science and the unique aspect of fetal growth and maturation.- Part III Fetal Cell transplant experiments in animal and human systems.- Part IV Fetal tissue transplant experiments in animal and human systems.- Part V Fetal Organ transplant experiments in animal and human systems.- Part VI Biobanking.- Ethics of fetal tissue transplant.

Human Neural Stem Cell Transplants in Neurological Disorders: Current Trends and Future Options

Loss of neurons and glial cells is a common neuropathology in human neurological diseases. From acute stroke to chronic central nervous system (CNS) disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, neuronal and glial cell death and damage remain irreparable with existing therapies. During the past decade, cell replacement therapy, gene transfer, and selective repair of injured neural cells in diseased areas of human brain and experimental animal models have become active areas of research with potential for promising therapeutic developments in neurological diseases.

Development of the Human Fetal Brain

Growth is a very important feature of development of a multicellular organism. It involves both cell multiplication and making more intra and extracellular material. Both types of increases involve the synthesis of DNA, RNA, Proteins, Lipids and Other constituent materials of the cells. From the point of view of development, an important feature of growth is that it occurs to different extents in different parts of the developing embryo and different patterns of growth can continue for long periods.

Mucopolysaccharides, Water and Electrolytes of Human Fetal Organs

A group of long chin heteroglycans or heteropolysaccharides consisting of N-acetylhexosamine, hexuronic acid or hexose as repeating units, occurring in animal tissues, is termed “Mucopolysaccharide” (MPS). Some of these polysaccharides are also polyelectrolytes, behaving as polyanionic substances due to the presence of free carboxylic (--COO−) and sulphate (--SO3=) groups. Such acidic mucopolysaccharides (AMPS) mainly occur in connective tissues and universally contain acetylated hexosamine. Jeanloz [1]; termed these MPS as Glycosaminoglycans (GAG) (Fig. 8.1).

Potentials of Cord Blood Use in Transfusion Medicine

Cord blood could prove to be the perfect choice for patients with severe anemia of different indications where blood transfusion is required, after it is screened for transfusion-transmitted infection. The reason for this suggestion lies in the fact that cord blood contains a plentiful mix of fetal and adult hemoglobin, has high WBC and platelet counts, and has a hypoantigenic nature apart from a different metabolic profile with inflammatory and noninflammatory cytokine support and an increased intrinsic affinity for oxygen.

Mechanism of rejection of human fetal adrenal cortex

In the course of development from early recognizable fetal stage to about 2 years after birth, the adrenal gland in man and some other primates undergo an interesting sequence of changes, which has been described as physiological involution. The so called involution occurs in what is known as the fetal type of cortical cells. The recognition of fetal adrenal cortex as distinct from the adult cortex is ascribed to Elliot and Armour in 1911. They found that the adrenal cortex was composed of a narrow rim of cells which constituted the periphery of the cortex and from which the adult cortex was derived. This peripheral zone was named the “Permanent Zone” and the area between the permanent zone and the medulla was occupied by cells which were called the so called “Fetal Cortical Cells”. This fetal zone degenerated after birth and was subsequently replaced by regeneration from the peripheral rim of cells.

Ethics Pertaining to the Use of Aborted Human Tissues for Research and Therapeutic Purposes

With recent advancements in the field of medical science, tissue engineering, organ transplantation, human embryonic stem cell research and aborted fetal tissue transplants are becoming an attractive source for new scientific exploration and innovation in the field of medicine and healthcare. Human tissues can be used for transplantation studies and therapeutics as well as for in vitro purposes in understanding the simple and basic biology of different ailments as well as in the search for a better cure. However, like any other drug therapy or drug discovery process, tissue experimentation generates intensive debate in terms of ethics and law. Whether it is moral or immoral to use different aborted materials like embryonic stem cells from the inner cell mass or fetal tissues are discussed in this chapter, as these are the two primary materials that are obtained from aborted fetuses and are currently intense topics of discussion regarding their ethical use for experimental and therapeutic purposes.

General Perspectives and Applications of Unani Medicine in Pregnancy Up to the 2nd Trimester

Unani Medicine or Graeco Arabic Medicine or the well versant term of Unani Tibb is an ancient traditional system of Medicine that links itself to the Middle East and South Asian Countries especially Yunan (Greece), Persia, Syria and India. Though Martin Levey in 1952 produced a report that justified Babylon to be the earliest centre of medicine [1], the concept of health and healing is much more primitive in origin. The Tibbi system of medicine is a rich storehouse of principles and philosophies of medicine which if understood in its proper perspective can prove of immense value. However, since all Tibbi literature is in the language and terminology of the contemporary sciences of the Middle ages (Persian, Arabic, Greek, Urdu etc.) it is not understood, or is rather inaccessible to modern scientists. Thus this system of medicine has been labelled as traditional and unscientific, though it has rendered service to millions of people for thousands of years and is the mother of the modern system of medicine. Hippocrates (460–337 BC), also known as the Father of Medicine was a Unani Tabib (physician).

Perspectives of Tribal Medicine on the First 6 Months of Pregnancy

Tribal medicine is essentially a very age old medicine without recognition among the modern scientific community due to its lack of presence in the scientific fraternity which can be attributed to the fact that most tribal medicines lack advertisement and are secluded as they are only used by a fraction of the people across the globe in various tribal areas of Africa, India, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Central Asia. Traditional remedies form an essential and important part of the cultural and religious life of tribals. Tribal medicines are mainly herbs in nature just like in the case of Ayurveda, homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine and Unani system of medicine. Nearly half the population globally relies on herbal medicine as do many tribals. A wide range of herbs are normally included in many forms of medicine during various stages of pregnancy and to regulate the menstrual cycle.