STEM CELLS

Girish
Krishnan
11B
 Self-renewal is the defining property of Cells in the

ABOUT STEM CELLS


stem cells. body have
 Stem cells also serve as an internal repair specific
system, dividing essentially without limit to purposes, hut
replenish other cells. stem cells are
cells that do
 Due to these regenerative abilities, stem cells
have the potential to treat diseases such as not yet have a
diabetes and heart disease specific role
and can
 Stem cells can be collected from donors and become
stored for use. almost any
 Specialized cells such as blood and muscle do cell that is
not normally replicate themselves, which required.
means that when they are seriously damaged
by disease or injury, they cannot replace
themselves.
 Stem cells can also divide and produce more
specialized cell types. This process is called
differentiation. Stem cells from different
tissues, and from different stages of
development, vary in the number and types of
cells that they can produce.
 As an organism develops, the potential of a
stem cell to produce any cell type in the body
is gradually restricted.
 Totipotent: can differentiate into all The

POTENCY
possible cell types. The zygote and all
cells up to the 16-cell stage of extent
development are totipotent. (or
 Pluripotent: Cells from the early power) of
embryo (embryonic stem cells) that can a stem
turn into almost any cell, except for the
cells of the placenta. cell to
 Multipotent: Can differentiate into a produce
closely-related family of cells. For e.g., different
adult hematopoietic stem cells can
become RBCs or WBSs or platelets cell types
 Oligopotent: Can differentiate into a
few cell types. E.g. adult myeloid cells
can differentiate into any of the blood
cells found in the lymphatic system,
such as B and T lymphocytes.
 Unipotent: Can only produce cells of
one kind, which is their own type.
However, they are still stem cells as
they can renew themselves. E.g. adult
muscle stem cells.
The uses of
stem cells
range from
very evident
ones, such as
research and
cell therapy,
to less obvious
ones, such as
3D printing.

All uses of
stem cells are
underpinned
by the fact
that stem cells
(especially
totipotent
ones) can
divide to form
almost any
cell
 STEM CELLS
IN MEDICINE
Bone marrow transplant to cure
leukaemia (a disease caused by
cancerous leukocytes,, which
cannot fight infection, and which
interfere with the functions of
other organs
Treatment involves using
radiation and chemotherapy
to destroy the cancerous
leukocytes…but the bone
marrow stem cells of the
patient are replaced with
healthy stem cells that can be
obtained from a donor.
An alternative to animal
testing of new medical
trreatments:
Large numbers of stem
cells can be used to test
potential medicines
To study disease: stem cells that
carry a disease gene or are
engineered to carry disease
genes, can be used as an
alternative to extracting diseased
cells from the patient, which is
unsafe and difficult.
Stem cells can help model disease
processes in the laboratory
EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS Embryonic stem
cells are
Derived from a developing
pluripotent; they
human embryo, that has
around 200-300 cells –a stage
can divide and
known as blastocyst– . differentiate to
form any cell apart
Embryos may need to be frozen (cryopreservation), before from the cells of the
used for research, as they need to be analysed before their placenta
stem cells are extracted.

The ‘spare’ embryos generated during

fertility treatments such as IVF, may be used
as a source of embryonic stem cells.
Using embryonic stem cells has ethical concerns:
•The ‘spare’ embryos are potential human beings, and should
not be used for research, where the cells will never be able to
develop into a complete human being.
•Some religions are strictly against the use of potential
human cells for any other purpose.
Since embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, they can give rise to a wide
variety of cells. Therefore, scientists need to carefully ensure that the
embryonic stem cells fully differentiate into the required specialised cells
before transplantation.
INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS
Special genes
designed for
 Specialised adult cells reprogramming
‘reprogrammed’ into cells that can be
introduced to a
behave like embryonic stem cells. specialised
adult cell, with
 To avoid immune rejection, induced the help of a
vector, usually
pluripotent stem cells can be made a genetically
engineered
from the patient’s own skin (or other virus.
tissues)