Regenerative Medicine Using Pregnancy-Specific Biological Substances
Regenerative Medicine Using Pregnancy Specific Biological Substances is an international attempt to bring researchers working on the potential uses of pregnancy specific biological substances in regenerative medicine, under one umbrella. More than 72 dist
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Niranjan Bhattacharya • Phillip Stubblefield (Editors)
Regenerative Medicine Using Pregnancy-Specific Biological Substances
Editors Niranjan Bhattacharya Department of General Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Clinical Immunology, Advanced Medical Research Institute, Gol Park, B.P. Poddar Hospital, and Vidyasagar State Hospital Kolkata India
Phillip Stubblefield Boston University Medical Centre Deptartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 85 E. Concord Street 02118 Boston Massachusetts USA
ISBN 978-1-84882-717-2 e-ISBN 978-1-84882-718-9 DOI 10.1007/978-1-84882-718-9 Springer London Dordrecht Heidelberg New York British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Control Number: 2010937625 © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2011 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licenses issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. The use of registered names, trademarks, etc., in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Product liability: The publisher can give no guarantee for information about drug dosage and application thereof contained in this book. In every individual case the respective user must check its accuracy by consulting other pharmaceutical literature. Cover design: eStudioCalamar, Figueres/Berlin Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Introduction
The legend of Prometheus of Greek mythological fame is well-known, but let it be repeated here with a medical twist. As a punishment for giving fire to humans, Zeus ordered Prometheus to be chained to a rock and sent an eagle to peck at his liver every day. However, Prometheus’ liver was able to regenerate itself daily, enabling him to survive. Let us add a story from Hindu mythology to this. The goddess Durga, entreated to save the world from demons, took on Raktabeej, a demon with a unique property: every drop of blood that fell from him was regenerated into another demon, another Raktabeej – and the mother goddess was faced with a difficult task indeed as thousands of demons sprouted from Raktabeej’s blood. Interestingly, “Raktabeej” translates as “blood seed.” What appeared to be (symbolic) stories in earlier days may soon become a reality with regenerative medicine. This is a new branch of medicine aimed at the regeneration of diseased or deteriorating organ systems. At the center of this branch of medicine are stem cells and other progenitor
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