
What Is The Source Of Stem Cells – Stem cells are unique cells present in the body that have the potential to differentiate into different cell types or to divide indefinitely to produce other stem cells.
All stem cells found in all living systems have three important properties. These properties can be visualized in vitro by a procedure called clonogenic assays, where a single cell is assessed for its ability to differentiate.
Contents
- 1 What Is The Source Of Stem Cells
What Is The Source Of Stem Cells
Image: Techniques for generating embryonic stem cell cultures. Image source: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Nico Heins et al.)
A Guide To Mesenchymal Stem Cell (msc) Markers
Depending on the source of stem cells or where they are present, stem cells are divided into different types;
Image: Advances in iPSC-based therapies. Image source: Nature Reviews Genetics (R. Grant Rove & George K. Dalei).
Stem cell research has been used in various fields for its properties. Some of the common applications of stem cell research include;
Due to various ethical and other issues related to stem cell research, there are some limitations or challenges of stem cell research. Some of them are:
New Way To Halt Leukemia Relapse Shown Promising In Mice
Anupama Sapkota graduated in microbiology from St. Xavier’s College, Kathmandu, Nepal. She is particularly interested in antibiotic resistance studies with a focus on drug discovery. Are you confused about all the different types of stem cells? Read about where the different types of stem cells come from, what their potential is for therapeutic use, and why some types of stem cells are shrouded in controversy.
Researchers are working on new ways to use stem cells to treat disease and injury. more about unlocking the potential of stem cells.
Somatic stem cells (also called adult stem cells) exist naturally in the body. They are important for growth, healing and replacement of cells that are lost through daily wear and tear.

Stem cells from blood and bone marrow are routinely used to treat blood-related diseases. However, under natural circumstances somatic stem cells can only become a subset of related cell types. Bone marrow stem cells, for example, differentiate primarily into blood cells. This partial differentiation can be an advantage when you want to make blood cells; but it is a disadvantage if you are interested in producing an unrelated cell type.
Stem Cells Definition, Properties, Types, Uses, Challenges
Most types of somatic stem cells are present in low abundance and are difficult to isolate and grow in culture. Isolation of some types can cause significant tissue or organ damage, such as in the heart or brain. Somatic stem cells can be transplanted from a donor to a patient, but without drugs that suppress the immune system, the patient’s immune system will recognize the transplanted cells as foreign and attack them.
Therapy involving somatic stem cells is not controversial; however, it is subject to the same ethical considerations that apply to all medical procedures.
Embryonic stem (ES) cells are formed as a normal part of embryonic development. They can be isolated from early embryos and grown in a dish.
ES cells have the potential to become any type of cell in the body, making them a promising source of cells for the treatment of many diseases.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Cell Therapy And Regeneration Potential
Without drugs that suppress the immune system, the patient’s immune system will recognize the transplanted cells as foreign and attack them.
When scientists isolate human embryonic stem (hES) cells in the laboratory, they destroy the embryo. The ethical and legal implications of this have made some reluctant to support research involving hES cells. In recent years, some researchers have focused their efforts on creating stem cells that do not require the destruction of embryos.
More about the controversy behind embryonic stem cells and why new stem cell technologies could bring them to an end. The Stem Cell Debate: Is It Over?
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) are created artificially in the laboratory by “reprogramming” the patient’s own cells. iPS cells can be made from readily available cells including fat, skin and fibroblasts (cells that produce connective tissue).
The Pros And Cons Of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Based Therapies
Mouse iPS cells can become any cell in the body (or even an entire mouse). Although more analysis is needed, the same appears to be true of human iPS cells, making them a promising source of cells for the treatment of many diseases. Importantly, since iPS cells can be made from the patient’s own cells, there is no risk of their immune system rejecting them.
IPS cells are much cheaper to make than ES cells generated through therapeutic cloning (another type of patient-specific stem cell; see below). However, since the process of “reprogramming” introduces genetic modifications, the safety of using iPS cells in patients is uncertain.
Therapeutic cloning can, in theory, generate ES cells with the potential to become any type of cell in the body. In addition, because these cells are made from the patient’s own DNA, there is no risk of rejection by the immune system.
In 2013, for the first time, a group of researchers used therapeutic cloning to create ES cells. The donor nucleus comes from a child with a rare genetic disorder. However, the cloning process remains time-consuming, inefficient and expensive.
Regenerative Medicine: Using Non Fetal Sources Of Stem Cells
Therapeutic cloning raises significant ethical questions. It involves creating a clone of a human being and destroying the cloned embryo, which requires a human egg donor.
Stem Cell Quick Reference [Internet]. Salt Lake City (UT): Center for Genetic Sciences; 2014 [cited 2023 Sep 22] Available at https:///content/stemcells/kuickref?page=all Where do researchers get embryonic stem cells from? This is the question that causes most of the controversy surrounding human stem cell research. Should scientists limit themselves to using embryos left over from fertility treatments? Why not create embryos specifically for research and increase our chances of success?
Human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are created from a small number of cells found in the blastula, a very early human embryo. Single cells taken from the blastula are grown into large numbers of cells to create ESC ‘lines’.
The ESC lines used by most researchers are pre-existing stem cell lines. Most new ESC lines are made from spare blastulae from fertility treatments.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells (mscs): A Comprehensive Overview Of Their Properties And Uses
The ability of ESCs to self-replicate allows large numbers of cells to be grown from a stem cell line and shared with laboratories around the world for many years, which minimizes the need to make new ESCs from the blastula.
Although some people disagree with the use of any embryonic stem cells, the use of previously created ESC lines is generally accepted because no other embryos are harmed.
The ethical debate about making new ESC lines from spare blastocysts from fertility clinics is primarily due to disagreements about how blastocysts should be treated. Some people see the destruction of blastocysts as killing human life.
An often overlooked concern regarding ESCs is who will and who will not benefit from ESC-based treatments, e.g. ESC-based treatments may not be available or affordable for poor people and poor countries.
Immunomodulatory Properties Of Mesenchymal Stem Cells/dental Stem Cells And Their Therapeutic Applications
Embryonic stem cell research focuses on stem cell lines. These are populations of cells, all carrying the same genes, grown in the laboratory through many cycles of growth and division over many generations of cells. A single cell line can supply many researchers with a huge number of cells.
Some people oppose the use of human embryonic stem cells under any circumstances. However, the use of cell lines that already exist is the most widely accepted source of stem cells. This acceptance is based on the argument that what is done is done. Even if harvesting embryos in general could be considered morally controversial, nothing can now be done to preserve the original embryos from which the lines were created.
People who oppose the use of this source of cells for research worry that it shows a lack of respect for embryos and therefore for human life. Here is a summary of the arguments for and against using spare embryos.
There is no reason to believe that destroying embryos will undermine society’s values - for many years embryos have been created and used for IVF and no significant change has been seen in how we value human life.
Increasing Angiogenic Efficacy Of Conditioned Medium Using Light Stimulation Of Human Adipose Derived Stem Cells
If stem cell therapies become routine treatments, then human embryos could be used as a source of therapeutic materials, which could indicate a declining respect for human life.
If it is morally acceptable to use embryos for fertility treatments, where many are never implanted in a woman’s womb and left to perish, it should not be immoral to sacrifice embryos to treat devastating diseases.
This is the start of a slippery slope, which can lead to dehumanizing scenarios such as embryo farms or cloned fetuses used for spare parts.
The spare embryos will anyway be destroyed when the time limit for their storage in the freezer expires; it is better not to waste these embryos, but to use them in research that could benefit humans.
Explain The Two Types Of Stem Cells
This could encourage society to tolerate the loss of life in order to save life. Where could it lead?
Some people argue that it is morally worse to create an embryo with the intention of destroying it in research than to create spare embryos as a byproduct of fertility treatment, where there was at least a chance of creating a human life.
However, such embryos will have a better chance of meeting patients’ needs because they can be produced from a specific patient as a source
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