The "monthly curse" may be anything but could be rich source of stem cells…………

Compared to umbilical cord blood, menstrual blood is far cheaper but rich source of pleuripotent mesenchymal stem cells which can be harvested and modulated to treat a wide range of diseases. Stem cells found in menstrual blood may one day be a potential source for stem cell therapies in stroke and other central nervous system disorders, diabetes, and spinal cord injury However, we cannot use the stem cells harvested from the menstrual blood for treating diseases at the moment because India is yet implement regulatory guidelines for therapies using stem cells.

In the study:

Xiao long Meng of the Bio-Communications Research Institute, a private research institute in Wichita, Kansas, US, and his colleagues studied cells taken from menstrual blood from two women.

The researchers say they found cells that proliferated more rapidly than mesenchymal stem cells derived from umbilical cords, doubling about every 19.4 hours. They also showed classic adult stem cell markers, as well as a few embryonic stem cell markers, such as one "master" marker called Oct-4.

The researchers also found that their cells could be coaxed into differentiating into nine different types of cells, including fat, muscle, bone and nerve.

                                                  Start finding out what they could do ***