Human Neural Stem Cell Tropism

“Surely every medicine is an innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils.”(Francis Bacon). New advances in medicine and medical technology has changed the lives of many people throughout the years. Medicine is “the science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease”. Medical technology is “healthcare products or equipment used to treat diseases or injuries…” Medicine has been present since ancient Egypt and has developed dramatically since then. Scientists are still finding new ways to further develop medicine and medical technology. One of the latest discoveries involve stem cell research. “Stem cells are a class of undifferentiated cells that are able to differentiate into specialized cell types.” (National Institutes of Health). Stem cells could open new opportunities in making new medicines and remedies to diseases such as: Cancer, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, and Alzheimer's disease. This could be a window of opportunity for the future.

cancer stem cell: current controversies and new insights” National Institutes of Health (995) December 5, 2005]

Additionally, embryonic stem cells have allowed drug testing to be made safer. It allows scientists to test the drugs on cells that are better representations of human cells than the previous test subjects, which were animals. Embryonic stem cells also allow scientists to study human development within the embryonic stage, and cellular reactions to disease. This means that because these cells are actual human cells, they will react to disease and disorders in the same fashion as the cells within human people. By looking at this reaction and development, researchers gain a clearer understanding of what these disorders are, how they affect human development, and possible treatments, cures, or preventative measures. Another point of progress for

Another milestone in science has been reached: the discovery of stem cells in the 19th Century. Stem cells have the ability to divide for indefinite periods in culture and to give rise to specialized cells (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009). According to the National Institutes of Health, embryonic stem cells derive from four to five day old embryos, also known as blastocyst, that have been fertilized in vitro and donated to research purposes with informed consent from the donors. Adult embryonic stem cells are found in differentiated cells in a tissue or organ. The main purpose of these cells is to repair the damaged tissue in which they are found. Since this discovery, there has been controversy over whether embryonic and adult stem cell research should be federally funded, and the ethics involved.

Particularly interesting is the case of the Central Nervous System. Studies conducted in animal models, demonstrated that cord blood stems cells can migrate to the area where brain injury is located, significantly reducing the area. Also, the injection of human cord blood stem cells into animals affected by serious strokes, stimulated new vessels and neurons creation in the

On April 28, 2011 - the United States Appeals Court overturned the rule of a federal judge because of several issues that emerged with stem cell research being funded by the government. Although, the science of human embryonic stem cell is in its initial stages - there is much hope for scientific advancement due to the ability for human embryonic stem cells to grow into virtually various kinds of cells  Favorably, advocates for stem cell research and pharmaceutical companies strongly believe that stem cells may pave a way to discover new methods of treatment for devastating ailments; such as, Leukemia, Alzheimer’s disease, Heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes- a prospect that is inspiring to both scientists and those who are

In this review several of the identified intrinsic and extrinsic factors that determine the fate of neural stem cells will be discussed. The role of neural stem cells in embryonic neurogenesis will be reviewed as well as what current research has hypothesized is the function of adult neural stem cells in the body. The conclusions

Technology is continuously evolving and creating new advancements in the medical field. These developments can potentially cure lethal common diseases such as cancer. In the recent years, the medical branch has made incredible progress; with discoveries such as technology for migraines and new alternatives to treat cancer. The most modern cancer treatment is stem cells. Stem cells have been in the process of development for almost fifty years. Stem cells are nonspecialized cells that are able to transform into other types of cells. Stem cells are always present in our body, but are more numerous in embryotic development. Researchers believe that soon, stem cells can lead to the cure to cancer, or even cloning humans. Although cloning is controversial, it is still very futuristic anyway. Stem cells have the potential to cure cancers, test medications, and test cell based treatments.

Reflect back to the year 1984, to the tragic day former professional boxer Muhammad Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In a blink of an eye, Ali’s career slipped through his fingertips. Unfortunately, many tragedies such as Ali’s occur everyday whether it is due to an accident or disease. I can relate to this issue along with others who may know someone who suffers from a life long disease such as Parkinson’s, paralysis, or diabetes. For quite some time these diseases have been seen as incurable but embryotic stem cells may hold the cure. With that said, many researchers in the medical field have become quite involved in the study of stem cells. A stem cell is an immature cell that has the potential to become specialized into

“In 1998, Thompson, from the University of Wisconsin, isolated cells from the inner cell mass of early embryos and developed the first embryonic stem cell lines. During that exact same year, Gearhart, from Johns Hopkins University, derived germ cells from cells in fetal gonad tissue; pluripotent stem cell lines were developed from both sources. Then, in 1999 and 2000, scientists discovered that manipulating adult mouse tissues could produce different cell types” . This meant that cells from bone marrow could produce nerve or liver cells and cells in the brain could also yield other cell types. These discoveries were exciting for the field of stem cell research, with the promise of greater scientific control over stem cell differentiation and proliferation.

Stem cells are cells that have not yet differentiated, or will divide into other cells that will then differentiate. These cells have the ability to develop into any type of cell that the body requires during development and growth. The value of stem cells for research comes from the ability to develop into specialized cells, a process known as differentiation, under experimental conditions. Naturally, stem cells regularly repair or replace damaged tissues. Scientifically, stem cells have been used in a variety of ways: to create Dolly the artificial animal clone, to therapeutic cloning and regenerative medicine, to drug discovery and transplantation medicine. A development of the use of human

Growing human cells in a laboratory may sound fascinating to scientists, however, to the average human being, it can often sound inhumane. The stem cells that these scientists use come from a variety of places, including embryos formed through in vitro fertilization and somatic cell nuclear transfer, aborted fetuses, umbilical cord blood cells, adult tissues, and reprogrammed adult tissue cells. These collected stem cells come in one of two forms: an adult stem cell or an embryonic stem cell. Just as the name suggests, adult stem cells are those that have been extracted from an adult organism. The primary roles of adult stem cells in a living organism are to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are located. These cells tend to be specialized in reproducing the tissues from which they have been taken and are found among differentiated cells in an organ. Embryonic cells, on the other hand, are derived from embryos. Most of these embryos are fertilized in a test tube, and some people consider this to be unnatural and

Based on several reports, stem cells are small population distributed among differentiated cells which contributed in tissue preservation[6]. In additional, the stem cells contains mature mechanisms such as resting phase (G0), antiapoptosis genes overexpression and advanced DNA damage repair process for resistance to apoptosis and drug[6-7]. Much chemotherapy is possible to fail despite mortality of main part of tumor cells for surviving of CSCs and their

Stem cells are different to all other cells in the human body because they have unique abilities to divide repeatedly, make many copies of themselves or differentiate into specialised cells such as skin cells, immune cells or nerve cells. Stem cells are also described as unspecialised because they are not yet advanced to perform an exact function. However, each of them has the potential to develop into one of a number of different specialised cell types depending on the body’s needs at a particular time. Specialized cells are different in size, shape and function. Some of the cells such as white blood cell allows the body to fight off the infection, while the nerve cells carry the impulses. Each cells have a significant function and failure of one can cause the others to work inefficiently because these group of specialized cells form tissues such as muscle, skin, nerve cells. Then, group of tissues form organs such as heart, lungs, stomach. Organs come together to form system like respiratory system, digestive system and then the entire system forms a human body. As they are all in one way connected to each other, malfunction or failure in a group of cells makes the body worse and sick. (Multiple Sclerosis Trust, 2016)

Vision loss has raised tremendous attention along with the ageing society. Relevant health expenditure has been invested into the medical field to improve patient’s quality of life, yet the (cure. the invention of iPSC, provide opportunity) MORE!