Do you understand the difference between stem cells, stem cell culture medium, and stem cell culture supernatant?
There are a variety of "stem cell" related products in the medical and cosmetic fields on the market today. Instead of immediately jumping into the fray thinking that everything with the word "stem cell" attached to it is the same, you should consider purchasing procedures and products with a proper understanding of what they are.
In this article, I would like to explain some points that are often misunderstood: stem cells, stem cell culture medium, and stem cell culture supernatant solution.
What are stem cells?
First, let me explain about stem cells. Stem cells are cells that have the ability to generate and replenish new cells. To be called stem cells, two abilities are essential. One is the ability to produce various cells that make up our body, such as skin, red blood cells, and platelets (differentiation ability), and the other is the ability to divide into cells that have the exact same ability as themselves (self-renewal ability).
What is stem cell culture medium?
Next, let me explain what stem cell culture medium is. Stem cell culture medium is a liquid medium that is used to culture stem cells in the process of artificially increasing stem cells and remains after the stem cells are removed.
According to the "List of Names of Labeled Ingredients of Cosmetics" compiled by the Japan Cosmetic Industry Association (Secretariat: Tokyo), the definition of "human stem cell acclimatized culture medium" is "a culture medium taken out from human stem cell cultures after they have been cultured for several days. In other words, stem cells themselves are not contained in stem cell culture medium.
What is stem cell culture supernatant solution?
Finally, what is stem cell culture supernatant solution? Stem cell culture supernatant solution is the supernatant liquid from the liquid medium left over from stem cell culture (i.e., stem cell culture medium) from which impurities are further removed and only the important components are extracted. Normally, only a few percent of the culture supernatant can be made from the culture medium.
However, like stem cell culture medium, it does not contain stem cells themselves.
Generally speaking, stem cell culture medium and stem cell culture supernatant solution are differentiated in terms of their use. Stem cell culture medium is mainly indicated as an ingredient in cosmetics and beauty solutions, while stem cell culture supernatant solution is used as an ingredient in anti-aging medicine and preventive medicine procedures.
There are also several types of stem cell culture supernatant solutions, depending on which part of the body the stem cells were extracted to make the supernatant solution. Mesenchymal stem cells are the most commonly used because they are relatively easy to obtain from human fat, dental pulp, umbilical cord, and cord blood.
Depending on which part of the body the stem cell supernatant is made from, it may contain slightly different components, which naturally results in slightly different effects.