• Question: How is it possible to inject human cells into people without needles?

    Asked by anyadouras to Alex on 17 Jun 2014.
    • Photo: Alex Lyness

      Alex Lyness answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Hey anyadouras,

      That is a great question and it has a simple answer: not yet!

      Maybe one day, I spoke about the types of needle-free injection technology that is in development here: /healthj14-zone/2014/06/in-the-near-future-will-there-be-a-needle-free-injection

      The problem will cells is that they are alive, they are very fragile and they can be really expensive! The technologies I mentioned here would all kill the cells before they got a chance to do their job which would not make a very good treatment.

      You cannot swallow cells in a tablet as the body will just digest them like normal food. Needles will therefore be used for a very long time. Currently cells can be injected into the blood stream (systemic delivery) or injected into a single location (local delivery). That’s for whether you want to treat the whole body or just a small part of it.

      However, I do think in the near future you may be able to inhale cells into the mucus covered layers in our lungs or as a nasal spray. Delivering in this way would cause less damage to the cells and they have a better chance of surviving than trying to blast them through the skin.

      It might take me a while but watch this space 😀

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