EVERY cloud has a silver lining, and that now includes menstruation. Stem cells derived from human menstrual blood have revitalised damaged limbs in mice, suggesting a treatment that might one day be used to stave off amputation of a limb in people.
Last November, MediStem Laboratories in San Diego, California, discovered adult stem cells in menstrual blood (New Scientist, 24 November 2007, p 20). To test their therapeutic value, Thomas Ichim of MediStem and his colleagues limited blood flow in the legs of 16 healthy mice and then injected half the animals with human menstrual stem cells.
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