regarding stem cells, can they be activated in one's own body in order to perpetuate healing?

Question

Is this how the jews lf old lived hundreds of years (supposedly), or how "miracle" healing occurs?

Answer 1

You're not completely understanding stem cells. Your body stays the way it is because of stem cells. You see your hair falling out? You see your skin shedding and growing? You see what happens when you bleed? If stem cells weren't present and functional, you would run out of blood and die at some point in your life. Your skin would be gone in a matter of weeks, you would have no hair.

Think of it like the manufacturing of a car. The final car is a final, completely specialized cell type, take a red blood cell for example. The purest stem cell, found in embryos and cord blood is like pure pure metal. It can be made into ANY kind of cell (or car). An embryonic stem cell can be made into blood, nerve, hair, skin, muscle, bone, anything.

But pure embryonic stem cells don't go straight from stem cells into those specialized final products, there are INTERMEDIATES. The body has reserves of these intermediates, in your skin for example, in your bone marrow. Think of this like the oringal metal of a car now turned into a frame, now it can be made into a number of different models. The cells in your bone marrow for example can be made into red cells, platelets, and a number of white cells. And stem cells PROGRESS down a line called "specialization" until they become the final product, based on signals from the body.

Think of this example, red blood cells have a lifespan of 2 weeks, and they need to be replaced. So what happens is the body sends out hormonal signals to activate the stem cells in your bone marrow. These same stem cells (called multipotent stem cells) are activated when your body needs white blood cells. But they go down different specialization pathways (think of it like the same model of a car, but now you're changing the color, changing the interior design, changing the engine, etc.)

The answer to your question is the body ALWAYS uses stem cells. But these are PARTIALLY specialized stem cells (like the frame of the car), while embryonic stem cells are completely undifferentiated, like the original pure metal (and they NEED to be since all humans start as a single cell, yet turn into hair, skin, neurons, bones, etc.).

Answer 2

Everyone has stem cells in their body. They do not fight disease, they are used to renew lost or damaged tissue. There is a limited number of them, and they eventually run out, or stop dividing. The body has a pre-programmed cell death cycle, which is not properly understood, and has never been circumvented in animal models.
Reactivating stem cells may help things such as diabetes, but unless the underlying cause (such as autoimmune disease) is treated, the condition will return very quickly. Transplanting stem cells comes with the same problems as other transplants - rejection, immunosuppression (from the anti-rejection drugs) etc.
The longevity of people in the Bible probably has more to do with mis-translation and exaggeration, than it does to stem cells. There is no evidence that they lived any longer than us. In fact, lifespan has increased over the last hundred thousand years, not decreased.

Answer 3

Um....wow...I don't know what to say except that in short, no. Stem cells are located in many many places in your body, and yes they are used to replace lost cells and tissues. Activation happens through, as with the rest of your body, various badly understood cell signaling pathways. However, the effects are so slow and subtle that it would never pass for miracle healing. You'd have to manipulate all sorts of the aforementioned signaling proteins just right to replicate the process, which I doubt a miracle healer can do.