A breakthrough by scientists could mean that they may be able treat arthritis by offering cartilage replacements.
Trials have shown "astonishing" results, with the tissue almost as good as new just three months afterwards.
At the moment sufferers are only offered the basic pain relief or complex joint replacement surgery.
The leader of the research, Professor Sue Kimber, said: "This work represents an important step forward in treating cartilage damage using embryonic stem cells to form new tissue... It may offer a new line of therapy for people with crippling joint pain and we now need this process to be developed for patients."
The experiments were led by a team at the Manchester University and Arthritis Research UK, and they transformed discarded embryonic stem cells from IVF clinics into cartilage cells.
They were then tested on rats with defective joints. The results showed that the artificially grown tissue quickly aided the repair of the rats' joints, and generated new healthy cartilage without any damaging side effects.
One person who fully backed the idea is Superman star Christopher Reeve, who became a quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse.
Before he died in 2004, he established a foundation set up in his name to fund embryonic stem cell research.
WENN.com
source: newshub archive
