What are Stem Cells?

The rise of stem cells has given medical experts and all individuals alike new hope in overcoming various physical conditions. These also have been very controversial due to the radical approaches never before seen or thought possible. Find out more about the different types and properties and discover how it may truly fare in the scientific realm.

A Brief Definition

Stem cells are cells found inside the body which may develop into one or more kinds of cells. Stem cells have been given special attention and importance by medical experts and researchers since these show great potency in treating or curing a variety of conditions and diseases such as Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, stroke, arthritis, burns, spinal cord injury and birth defects. Stem cells can then self-replicate or develop into more differentiated cell types.

The two main properties of stem cells are self-renewal and potency. Self-renewal refers to the stem cell's ability to undergo various cell division processes without altering its undifferentiated state. Potency refers to the stem cell’s ability to differentiate into specialized types of cells. Particularly, totipotent and pluripotent stem cells are required to give rise to any type of mature cell. Multipotent and unipotent progenitor cells at times are also referred to as stem cells.
  

script script Although there are several types of stem cells, there are three classifications namely pluripotent, multipotent and totipotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells may develop into any type of cell inside the body but cannot give rise to needed supporting structures for organism development. Totipotent stem cells are highly potent in developing into an organism such as a fertilized egg. Multipotent stem cells may develop into a small number of differentiated types of body cells.

Adult stem cells may develop into limited cell types such as blood stem cell located in the bone marrow which can develop into red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Human embryonic stem cells belong to the pluripotent stem cell class which can develop into any type of cell in the human body. However, these cannot develop into an organism due to inability to give rise to amnion and chorion.

About Stem Cell Line

A human embryonic stem cell line is a human embryonic stem cell or hESC culture which came from a single embryo. Since stem cells have the ability to self-replicate, only a few hESCs have the ability to give rise to an entire population of identical hESCs or a cell line. Cell lines are very useful since these can be grown in laboratories for a long period of time to be distributed or used later by researchers. Every cell line has a unique genetic mark providing a more controlled approach for various experiments. Stem cells need to undergo cell division in order to exhibit the self-renewal property.

Comparing human embryonic and adult stem cells, the former has a greater advantage in medical research since the cells are pluripotent and can then develop to more types of cells. Adult stem cells have the advantage of convenience since these can easily be found in every tissue type in the human body. However, the isolation of different adult stem cell types is quite limited. Stem cells for organs such as the brain and liver are more difficult to derive and identify. Researchers aim to derive different stem cell types with the adult class to provide more derivatives.