Cellular therapy -- also called live cell therapy, cellular suspensions, glandular therapy, fresh cell therapy, siccacell therapy, embryonic cell therapy, and organotherapy -- refers to various procedures in which processed tissue from animal embryos, fetuses or organs, is injected . Products are obtained from specific organs or tissues said to correspond with the unhealthy organs or tissues of the recipient. Proponents claim that the recipient's body automatically transports the injected cells to the target organs, where they supposedly strengthen them and regenerate their structure. The organs and glands used in cell treatment include brain, pituitary, thyroid, adrenals, thymus, liver, kidney, pancreas, spleen, heart, ovary, testis, and parotid. Several different types of cell or cell extract can be given simultaneously , some practitioners routinely give up to 20 or more at once .

The first recorded attempt at cellular therapy occurred in 1912 when German physicians attempted to treat hypothyroid children with thyroid cells . Cellular therapy, as practiced today, was developed in the early 1930s by Paul Niehans, MD (1882-1971), a Swiss physician who became known as "the father of cell therapy." It soon became popular with celebrities as a means of rejuvenation. A 1990 article in In Health magazine described Niehans as a "public relations genius" and stated that the HYPERLINK "http://www.laprairie.ch/" Clinique La Prairie, which he had founded in Clarens-Montreaux, Switzerland, had attracted 65,000 patients . Its current (1999) one-week "revitalization program" costs about $8,000.