Stem cells are a special group of cells found in all multicellular organisms. What makes them unique and different from other cells is the fact that they are unspecialized and have the potential to differentiate into diverse cell types while still maintaining the ability to replenish themselves. Generally, these cells are divided into 2 broad categories – the embryonic stem cells that are derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst and the adult stem cells that are harvested from the bone marrow, umbilical cord blood or the adipose tissue of an adult.
Many of us have all heard the saying that a “lizard can lose its tail,” and bizarrely enough it will grow back. This was always considered impossible for humans, an idea belonging in the realm of science fiction, but now the regeneration of tissue is an extremely realistic possibility. Despite some opinions, this process does not happen naturally, or take place as cinematically as one might imagine. Over the past decade, there have been major advances in regenerative medicine, commonly known as stem cell research. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells within the body that have the capability to specialize into any tissue. They are most commonly found in cord blood, bone marrow, organ donations, placenta, and embryos . Stem cells are seen by some as a new miracle treatment, encouraging many countries to invest in their research.
Christopher Reeve, better known as superman, was not only an actor, but also an athlete and an adventurer. On two separate occasions, he flew an airplane sole across the Atlantic Ocean. On Memorial Day weekend in 1995, Chris rode his horse, Buck, to the starting box of a cross-country race in Virginia. Chris had trained and raced horses for almost ten years, so he felt the course ahead of him would be easy. But what Chris did not see coming was just as he and Buck approached the third jump, Buck would come to a sudden stop, sending Chris over the jump. He landed directing on his head, fracturing two vertebrae in his neck. From that day on, he was completely paralyzed. At the time, there was no known treatment, no medication, and no surgery to fix his damaged spine. For the rest of his days, Chris raised money and awareness for research into spinal cord injuries. One of the topics he pushed for was embryonic stem cell research. Christopher Reeve died on October 10th, 2004, never fulfilling his goal to walk again. But if he had gotten the support and funding for stem cell research, his story might have ended differently. Embryonic stem cell research should be funded in the U.S because it could lead to the treatment to many diseases, there are other sources of stem cells, but they are limited to their use, and the eight-celled blastocysts cannot grow any further to form a baby, so it is not harming living human beings.
WNT signalling has a role in HSC regulation. Osteoblast-specific overexpression of the WNT inhibitor dickkopfhomolog 1 leads to impairment of HSC self-renewal.
Stem cells are cells that are found throughout the human body. They reproduce over a long period of time without changing. Stem cells can produce specialized cells, such as brain, muscle or lung cells. Stem cells in the last few years have recently made a big debut because medical professionals have discovered so many unique qualities to stem cells. They are on the cutting edge of medicine because of all their uses and the qualities that make them so unique from any other cell in the body. Stem cells have the power to make so many breakthroughs in the medical world. Medical researchers have all ready found so many ways that stem cells can be used for the better of so many people. Genes play an important role in determining what genetic traits or mutations we receive. Researching stem cells can help determine this. Stem cell research is useful for learning many things about human development and about how the body has the power to repair itself. Researchers are finding new ways each day that stem cells can be used and the possibilities that they find for stem cells could be endless. A few ways they can be used to treat diseases, be used as graphs for burn victims or surgical use, and even to correct birth defects. The pros of stem cells are limitless.
These capabilities make stem cells the precursor to all of the body tissues found in an organism. There are many different stem cells found in humans. The biggest distinction between them is their relative abilities to produce different tissues in the body, known as potency. For example, embryonic stem cells (ESC) are pluripotent and capable of differentiating into all of the tissue of the body, while hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) an adult stem cell are multipotent and only able to differentiate into the lymphoid and myeloid blood
Stem cell research is the future of medical and biological research and remedies, and it is fascinating to watch the progression of this new and important science as it unfolds. These cells were discovered in mouse embryos in the 1980s, and are remarkable because of their potential to grow into a variety of different kinds of cells within a body. Common in fetuses, and more rare in adult animals of all kinds, stem cells can be manipulated in useful ways to repair many tissues, dividing limitlessly for therapeutic purposes. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or to differentiate into more specialized tissue, such as nerve, pancreas, bone marrow, or unique blood components. Initially
Hematopoietic stem cells are unspecialized cells that can develop into all types of blood cells, such as white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. These cells can be found in the peripheral blood, unbelicalcord and the bone marrow. There are four different types of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplants. They are autologous transplant, allogeneic transplant, myeloablative transplant, non-myeloablative transplant.
Many scientists believe that embryonic stem cell (ESC) research is the key to curing diseases such as cancer and HIV. Stem cells are so important to biomedical research because they are primitive cells that are capable of replicating indefinitely producing a multitude of different types of cells. This means that one of these pre-determined cells has to potential of becoming any range of over two hundred tissues with epithelial cells to blood and
Medications taking into account hESCs have been moderate nearing in view of debate over their source and apprehensions that they could transform into tumors once if it been implanted. They have gigantic potential on the grounds that hESCs can be developed into any of the body's 200 tissue types, dissimilar to the stems cells confined from grown-up tissues that have for the most part been utilized as a part of medications until the present date.
Stem Cell Research: Should we continue to allow scientists to create new embryonic stem cell lines?
Stem cells are cells with the potential to become any type of cell in the body. There are two different types of stem cells: adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells are very valuable and are used mainly to treat blood diseases, but sometimes adult stem cells from the brain are used to treat neurological diseases. Adult stem cells can also be difficult to recognize in the adult body. Embryonic stem cells are more flexible than adult stem cells and can be used for a bigger variety of diseases (California’s Stem Cell Agency,2011). Some people do not believe in the use of embryonic stem cells, because they believe they are killing future life. Despite the controversy over how stem cells are gathered, stem cells have undeniable
Stem cells are cells within the body that have the ability to grow and reproduce repeatedly into any type of mature cell. They are unspecialized cells that divide through mitosis to produce more stem cells that replace cells in the system in which they are found. Stems cells make it possible for the body to renew and repair its damaged tissues. They are also vital in the development of human life. Stem cells are high potential cells, and this makes them a top focus in the biomedical research world. (Stem Cell Basics, 2009) This paper will discuss the background, function, and other aspects of stem cells.
All blood cells and components have vital roles making it necessary that they are replenished continuously; this is achieved by haematopoiesis, where there is a differentiation of a population of pluripotent cells, known as haematopoietic stem cells. HSCs are unspecialised cells that can be differentiated into multiple lineages (figure 1) of mature blood cells (Park et al., 2015). Not only do these cells possess the potential for multipotency they also have the ability of self-renewal, making them a suitable curative to be used in transplantation. Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is an evolving technique which involves the intravenous infusion of HSCs designed to restore effective haematopoiesis, bone marrow and immune system
Uniquely, stem cells are able to divide and multiply themselves quickly and are also unspecialized cells, meaning they can modify themselves to create any new tissue (Haerens). Because stem cells are able to split and generate so quickly, they are known as regenerative medicine. Regenerative means they recreate themselves and are able to thrive in the setting they are placed in. For example, stem cells placed in muscle tissue will quickly divide so that the body’s muscle tissue will begin to build up again. Correspondingly, stem cells can be modified to be made into any type of adult cells or tissue, proving they are the best option for treating a multitude of distinct diseases. Although stem cells haven’t yet been utilized in all forms of medicine, there is a vast potential for the future through rigorous research and testing. To put into perspective the many uses of stem cells, a man named Barry Goudy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease in which the immune system attacks nerve cells (Nelson, J). In hopes of helping ease his pain, he became a part of a stem cell study where he was injected with his own modified stem cells; within four months, Goudy became symptom-free, stem cells essentially curing his MS. According to Jean Peduzzi Nelson, author for Opposing Viewpoints in Context, another completely different condition, degenerative corneal disease, causes loss of eyesight and even complete blindness. Typically, this condition is treated with eye transplants, which is rejected in 20% of cases (Nelson, J). However, when treated with stem cells derived from the person’s own body, over 75% of people regained the majority of their sight back (Nelson, J). These two very different cases prove that stem cells are very capable of treating and curing a multitude of