One frequent question we get asked at the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center on a regular basis is “What happens to my donation?”

If you make a whole blood donation – the most common type – your blood is separated into three components: red cells, platelets and plasma. Each are used by doctors for different treatments. You also can donate just platelets or red cells.

Researchers in Japan are working on a novel way to make sure mesenchymal stem cells wind up in the right place when repairing cartilage.

Researchers at Hiroshima University showed that by equipping MSCs with a special iron type of iron oxide nanoparticles, they can be attracted to a specific location in the body with a magnetic field.

The report, “In Vitro Safety and Quality of Magnetically Labeled Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Preparation for Cartilage Repair,” was published in the journal Tissue Engineering.

“I have not heard of this before,” said Scott Jones, Vice President, Scientific Affairs at BioBridge Global. “We use magnetic particles for nucleic isolation, so it makes sense you could use it to move cells.”

The study used MSCs from bone marrow and the process was tested in eight patients.