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Essay On Stemem Cell Therapy

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Background: In this study, the use of embryonic stem cell therapy as a treatment for hemophilia A in mice was tested. Mouse blastocysts, lacking factor VIII (FVIII), were injected with embryonic stem cells expressing green-fluorescent protein (GFP). The blastocysts were then transferred to pseudopregnant mice in order to produce chimeric mice, and the expression of FVIII in those mice was analyzed. The green-fluorescent protein was used to ensure the successful implantation of the embryonic stem cells. After 6 months, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used to determine the presence of both FVIII and GFP in the genome of the mice livers. As a result of the PCR, FVIII and GFP were expressed in three of the five chimeric mice. Next, …show more content…

This could eliminate the need to have continuous treatments, as is most common today. While research still needs to be done to make sure there are no negative long term effects to this treatment, this study demonstrated the promising future for a new embryonic stage treatment for hemophilia A. It provides a direction for future research to follow regarding the use of embryonic stem cells to treat genetic diseases.
Figure Summary: Figure 3 represents the PCR results used to determine the presence of FVIII and GFP DNA sequences in the negative control (containing no FVIII)), wildtype, and chimeric mice. The sequences were taken from the livers of the mice. A sample of DNA from each of the mice livers was amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Then, the PCR product was analyzed through gel electrophoresis. The results are shown in Figure 3. In part A of figure three, the results are shown for regular PCR. The first five columns represent the chimeric mice, ctrl represents the negative control (null-FVIII), and wt. represents the wildtype. The first row shows evidence for FVIII, the second row shows evidence for the presence GFP, and the final row shows evidence of B-actin. The B-actin was the loading control, used to reaffirm that the wells of the gel were loaded properly. The number on the right

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