About stem-cell research?
Aug 13, 2009
armtwistedback asked:
Without any technical terms, or things like that, just plain and simple..What is stemcell research..what exactly do they do to the embryos? how to they get them? etc.
Without any technical terms, or things like that, just plain and simple..What is stemcell research..what exactly do they do to the embryos? how to they get them? etc.
Posted by admin |
Categories: Stem Cell Questions | Tagged: Embryos, Stem Cell Research, stemcell research |
toogerq
August 17th, 2009 at 6:40 am #
Stem cells are cells that have the potential to develop into any type of specialized cell. For example, a stem cell may develop into a liver cell, a bladder cell, a kidney cell, etc. This is of interest to researchers because you can potentially grow a new liver, kidney, and researchers already have grown a bladder from stem cells and transplanted it into a person who for some reason needed a new bladder.
Adults do have some stem cells, but they are already more specialized than a stem cell from an embryo. When the sperm and the egg unite, and begins to divide, the first few cells are like the ultimite stem cells. Cell 1 and all of its daughter cells (the cells that result after a cell divides) may start to eventually form liver cells, but it could just as easily form any other organ of the body. Cell 2 and all of it’s daughter cells may start to form brain cells, etc. Cells that have the potential to become literally anything can only come from embryos (as far as we know), thats why embryonic stem cell research is of so much interest to scientists now.
darealqueen
August 18th, 2009 at 7:27 pm #
Stem cell
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Mouse embryonic stem cells with fluorescent marker.Stem cells are primal cells found in all multi-cellular organisms that retain the ability to renew themselves through cell division and can differentiate into a wide range of specialized cell types. Research in the human stem cell field grew out of findings by Canadian scientists Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till in the 1960s.[1][2]
The three broad categories of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells, derived from blastocysts, adult stem cells, which are found in adult tissues, and cord blood stem cells, which are found in the umbilical cord. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells.
As stem cells can be readily grown and transformed into specialised cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture, their use in medical therapies has been proposed. In particular, embryonic cell lines, autologous embryonic stem cells generated through therapeutic cloning, and highly plastic adult stem cells from the umbilical cord blood or bone marrow are touted as promising candidates