Stem Cell Essay

Others develop into muscle cells that can contract and also into nerve cells. Because they have the potential to become such a wide variety of specialized cells, embryonic stem cells are described as pluripotent. Plurip.0otency is one of two key features of embryonic stem cells. The second key feature of embryonic stem cells is their ability to divide or self renew for an indefinite period while retaining their undifferentiated, pluripotent state. As the cell mass grows, the population can be further expanded by growing in larger tissue culture flasks. An unlimited number of undifferentiated, pluripotent stem cells can be produced (Sumanas Inc. 2007).

Pluripotent stem cells are the stem cells that can only differentiate into a limited range of differentiated cells. (2) They have the ability to give rise to all somatic cells from ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm, as well as gametes. Naturally it can be found in embryos as Embryonic stem cells (ES cells). Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells or iPSC) are the pluripotent stem cells that are generated directly from adult cells, first discovered by Shinya Yamanaka in 2006 by using a set of reprogramming factors (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc or LIN28 and Nanog) (3) to reprogram mature cells back to a pluripotent state (4).

Embryonic stem cells (hESC) are pluripotent. They are obtained from the inner mass of a 5-6 day old human blastocyst that consists of approximately 100 cells (Bongso & Lee, 2005, p. 3).

Stem cells have made significant promise to help people understand and treat a broad range of injuries, diseases, and other health-related issues. This type of treatment has saved the lives of many people with leukemia and can also be used for tissue grafts to treat conditions with the skin, bone and surface of the eye ("Nine Things to Know about Stem Cell Treatments"). Dilated cardiomyopathy (DMC) is a disease characterized by expansion of the left ventricular chamber and it is usually associated with systolic dysfunction. The presentations of the condition include heart failure, myocardial infarction, and arrhythmia and as a refractory life-threatening condition which can cause heart failure, transplantation remains the ultimate therapy for

The creation of induced pluripotent stem cells by direct reprogramming has allowed for the circumvention of using embryonic stem cells while still leaving the cells with the ability to maintain pluripotency. Instead of ES cells which were originally derived from the epiblast of mouse embryos, IPS cells were generated from mouse embryonic fibroblasts. This eliminated both any ethical concerns for whether those cells were a living being or not and the need to destroy embryos at the blastocyst stage. An advantage of IPS cells is that they are derived from human somatic cells which makes them easy to acquire due to the possibility of using skin or blood cells. They can also be grown and differentiated individually for each person that the sample of somatic cells is taken from which eliminates the possibility of having any immune reaction and rejection to the differentiated cells during transplantation. These characteristics of IPS cells are important because they are what enables us to safely and accurately transform these affected cells from patients cells into neurons and confidently study them.

Embryonic stem cell research could provide many medical advanced. Studying the stem cells could help prevent diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer's, and heart disease.

stem cells were discovered a long ago that they can be beneficial for fighting against the killer diseases but after passing of two decades of the discovery it has been profound that (hESCs) are being tried as a treatment for two noteworthy illnesses: heart fail and type 1 diabetes.

In order to obtain relevant information to support this topic, databases including PubMed, Medline, UpToDate, and Google Scholar were used. Terms used in each search included and combined the following: mesenchymal stem cell, cardiac stem cells, HF, heart repair, ejection fraction, cardiac output, cardiac index, mortality.

The ability to manipulate the stem cell corresponding to a specific organ/tissue remains important. A type of stem cell that can be manipulated is the embryonic stem cell. These stem cells descend from embryos aging from three to five days (Watt) (Driskell). During earlier stages, scientists describe embryonic stem cells as “blastocysts” which contain over one-hundred and fifty cells (Watt) (Driskell). They duplicate into more cells or transform to any cell located in the body (Watt) (Driskell). This “duplication” allows embryonic stem cells to regenerate and repair diseased tissues. Embryonic stem cells gain importance in cancer treatments—if doctors diagnose patients with leukemia, then during chemotherapy, the doctor can infuse embryonic stem cells into the body. Since the cells are young, they can repair the targeted cell, aiding cancer treatments and the patient. In addition, this technique is used with another type of embryonic stem cell called “pluripotent stem cells”. Pluripotent stem cells originate as inner mast cells (cells

Embryonic stem cells are repairing damaged tissues in the body. Scientists have find a way to replace damage hearts. The United States heart failure affects more than 400,000 people a year. With the use of stem cells can be used to reconstruct the heart

The society has evolved over the decades. Medical advances, greater technologies, better understanding of the world around us, the sky is the limit! The progression of a society is astounding from where it was just twenty years ago. One is able to do things that the forefathers would have never dreamed! Science has discovered ways to travel to the moon and back, reach some of the deepest depths of the oceans and discover new species, and drive hybrid cars. The achievements of today’s society have reached a new high; however, with great achievement comes great questions of ethics.

iPSCs are adult stem cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to behave like the pluripotent stem cells found in embryos, i.e. can differentiate into any cell type in the human body. This was first completed successfully in mice in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka and his team (Takahashi et al., 2006), then in humans in 2007 both by Yamanaka (Takahashi et al., 2007), and by James Thomson and his team in America independently (Yu, et al., 2007). Yamanaka and Thomson’s methods were similar. In the report by Yu et

Embryonic stem cells are classified into four groups “based on their potential to generate different cell strains” (Arce). These four categories are totipotent, luripotent, multipotent and tissue-progenitor cells. Totipotent and luripotent are found in embryos and multipotent and tissue-progenitor cells are found in adult organisms. Totipotent cells are the most flexible, because of their capability to generate all human cells, such as heart, liver, blood cells or even an entire organism. They are created when the sperm fertilizes the egg and produces a diploid known as zygote. As the zygote undergoes several cell divisions, more totipotent cells are created. After approximately four days the blastocyst, which has an inner mass cell and makes the embryo, is formed. Pluripotent cells begin forming from the

     What if Superman was able to walk again? Christopher Reeves was the actor we all knew as Superman. A few years ago he had a horse-back riding accident which left him paralyzed from the neck down. His spinal cord was severed and there was nothing doctors could do to help him but, there might be hope for him after all. There is a great new field of research in which scientists are trying to find ways to solve these types of problems along with many others. Research in the use of stem cells holds limitless possibilities in the medical field. Stem cells are the cells in our bodies that are in their primitive form. These cells have not yet become the type of cell they are destined to

Scientists from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles CA: highlighted the need for stem therapy in replacing aging heart muscles using rats (Paddock, 2017). The induced cells were able to grow and multiply thus repair the heart muscles of the older rats to improve the general body functioning.