Baz Ratner/Reuters
STEM cells taken from placentas have healing properties that can help people recover from having their hip joint replaced.
Placentas are normally thrown away after childbirth, but now Israeli company Pluristem has taken discarded placentas and developed a batch of mesenchymal stem cells from them. These cells have the potential to turn into different kinds of tissue and release chemicals that promote healing.
To see how the cells affect muscle repair, Tobias Winkler of Charité – Berlin University of Medicine in Germany and his colleagues tested two different doses of the cells in 20 people …