A Little Over Stem Cells

        Since there has been a lot of research in the area of stem cells I wanted to go over some of the characteristics and the different type there are. The three characteristics of stem cells are that they are able to divide and renew themselves, they are unspecialized, and in turn can are responsible for generating specialized stem cells. Embryonic stem cells refer to the stem cells in an embryo that has been fertilized in an lab for research purposes. The way these cells are generated is putting the inner cell mass in a culture dish. The culture dish contains a substance called culture medium. In this dish, the embryonic stem cells divide all through the culture dish with mouse feeder cells. Specialization occurs very rapidly and in an uncontrolled manner, so it can be difficult to produce a certain cell type. Therefore, a method called directed differentiation was made that controlled the differentiation of an embryonic stem cell. Some diseases that they might be used for by transplanting them include “diabetes, traumatic spinal cord injury, Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, heat disease, vision, and hearing loss”.

        Adult stem cells, also referred to as somatic stem cells, are undifferentiated cell that can maintain and repair the tissue or organs that they reside in. One major difference between adult and embryonic stem cells are that they are limited in the type of cells it can differentiate into. Unlike embryonic cells that can grow rapidly in a culture dish, adult stem cells are a little more difficult. Scientists are still trying to figure out a way to isolate these cells from adult tissue and grow them in cell culture. They might be used in medical therapies such as regenerating bone, developing insulin-producing cells, and repairing damaged heat muscle from a heart attack. It is believed that adult stem cells are less rejected by transplantation than embryonic stem cells because it would just be an act of reintroducing the patient’s own cells.

        Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) are adult cells that have been introduced embryonic genes to form embryonic stem cells. It is still unknown if there is a significant difference between iPSC and embryonic stem cells. Mouse iPSCs have shown expression of stem cell markers, forming tumors, and the ability to contribute to different tissues. Human iPSCs show expression of stem cell markers and ability to generate cell characteristics of all three germ cells. Induced pluripotent stem cells have been used for drug development and modeling of diseases. Scientists are using viruses in animals to study affects and have found that they can lead to cancer. Researchers are currently looking for a way to reprogram cells to repair damaged tissues.