Stem cells can remain alive in human corpses for at least 17 days after death, researchers say.
Stem cells give rise to all other cells in the body, a property that makes them extraordinarily valuable in potential therapies. These potent cells are often rare, only present in small numbers in tissue samples from patients and difficult to distinguish from other cell types in many cases. As such, scientists are investigating novel ways to procure stem cells and improve the viability of the ones they can get.
Past research had suggested that stem cells could actually survive in up to 2-day-old cadavers, but researchers had thought that dead bodies would be poor homes for any cells, lacking the oxygen and nutrients the body's cells need to stay alive. Nevertheless, histologist and neuropathologist Fabrice Chrétien at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and his colleagues were curious to see how long stem cells might keep ticking after a person died.
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