Umbilical cells could improve hepatic function, study shows

A group of researchers has discovered that mononuclear blood cells taken from an umbilical cord are an effective alternative to bone marrow in hepatic diseases.

Scientists from the University of Granada in Spain and the University of Leon in France found that rats displayed a marked improvement in hepatic function when treated with a cell transplant.

The treatment could eventually replace the current method of liver transplantation, which is often limited due to a lack of donor organs.

Findings from the research are due to be published in Cell Transplantation journal in the near future, and will show that human umbilical cord blood cells are useful for hepatic regenerative medicine due to their ability to nest in the liver.

The cell transplant performed on the rats was proved to be successful when an improvement was seen in the enzymatic activities of alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, gama-glutamyl-transpherase and lactate dehydrogenase, as well as in the concentrations of total and direct bilirubin.